The Daily Pita (Fresh from Athens) - Day One

Kalimera!

[by Kris SANTIAGO] - That's my first blog out of Athens, after arriving on Saturday in the Greek capital.
I decided to stay in a hotel in the neighborhood called Psiri, near to the ancient town of Plaka, and I re-named the area into "Little Bangladesh" (Thanks to the Asians on the streets and the smell of curry in the air) shortly after my arrival.
People who know the Evripidiou Street there know what I am talking about…

Sunday I spent on the beach in Alimos (You can call me Lobster from now on, I am red like Luke Schenscher) and the late afternoon I took a walk up to the Acropolis (I need to work on my conditioning..), lots of people were on the streets, a really beautiful city from what I was able to see.



Now lets head to the notes I made about the Olympic Qualifying Tournament and the stuff happened surrounding the games:

- The accreditation center was a bit chaotic (You know the word "Chaos is Greek…but having family from the Balkans helps to deal with such situations), but what do you expect when all the guys that are working there (whether it's the lady that is cleaning the toilets or the guy that is delivering the food) and the journalists have to accreditate on the same day…

- While waiting in a line there, a Greek journalist (?) asked me some stuff in Greek ( Now some of the people I met here told me that I do look like a Greek), and I answered him in English that I don't speak his language, but that did not kept him off of talking to me. After some time, I remembered one sentence in Greek I learned the day before ("The Sas Catala wueno" -I do not understand you…I know it's not the right way of writing it, but that's how I can remember it), and told it to him, and then he answered in perfect English: "Where are you from and who do you think is going to win the tournament?" Now that's what I called a surprise…

- A big "thank you" to the staff at the press center, as they helped me to fix my laptop. A guy called Evangelios was really helpful to adjust my old laptop to the internet, that's what I call a good start into the tournament!

- The first game was a blow-out win of New Zealand against Cape Verde, mostly due to the fact, that the shoot-first guards from Africa were missing most of the shots (Xavier found his rhythm a bit late in the second) in the first quarter while New Zealand played routinely their game with Kirk Penney who had no trouble finishing on his drives through the zone. Teams that play against New Zealand should know before the game, that Pero Cameron is a real threat from the 3, something that coach Eric Silva must have forgotten to tell his centers, or the centers did not listen to him, as Pero was hitting a few of them from beyond the arc. Not a lot of fans out there, but the Cape Verdeans had actually one lady constantly screaming and cheering during the whole game from the stands. I respect here effort to support the guys, and Avery Oliver stepped up and showed some good game, even though he played in the 6th German Division last year, and I did not expect much off him, but he really left me impressed.

- Up next was Korea against Slovenia, and both teams brought in some fans, but the OAKA Indoor Gym was of course far from being packed. Korea has some pretty good shooters, and even their two forwards Kim Min Soo and Kim Joo Sung were having a good game on the offensive end but suffered in defense against the smart playing Slovenians, who had an outstanding Rasho Nesterovic on their side. Korea's giant Ha Seung Jin (Who is still not really healthy from what I was able to see) had trouble finding a way to defend Rasho in the post and may has to work out with another Korean giant (Choi Hang Man) to be tougher…. Korea's late rally was silenced by players like Miha Zupan, who I really start to like as a player, and Uros Slokar who drew a lot of fouls.

- I had a small break and went to Iraklio, just one metro-station away from the Olympic complex and sat down there to have lunch (I am actually on a pita-diet).I really can recommend the bars and restaurants over there, so if need a few minutes off basketball, take a short ride to that place.

- Cameroon against Croatia was up next, and the Croatians were already in the gym when I returned to my seat. I spotted Roko-Leni Ukic on the court as he was warming up. I thought he is going to have an impact on today's game. Little did I know. He was benched the whole game. Even when Croatia was leading up by as many as twenty points…I felt sorry for him, don't know what has led to the coaches decision to keep him entirely out of the action. Cameroon, who was plagued by some internal problems, made their way to the court just 15 minutes prior to the start… Some of the players looked de-motivated, but once the game started, the "Indomitable Lions" were able to keep up the pace set by Croatia. Cameroon had a few fans there, including Sofokles Schortsianitis (Mother is from Cameroon), who was applauded by the incoming Greek fans. Planinic & Co did a pretty good job in the second quarter, but got lazy in the third and fourth quarter when Harding Nana (Who is heading to Spain next season) stepped up to give Cameroon a small hope to get back into the game and during a few minutes, they cut the deficit to 9 points. But Marko Tomas showed how efficient basketball can be (Tomas hit 8 of 9 shots out of the field) and the Croatians held off Cameroon, winning it 93-79.

- I have to mention the calves of Brice Vounang…they are probably twice as big as mines, maybe three times bigger…I hope to make a picture of them in the second game.

- Cameroon's coach Adingono said after the game, that he doesn't know if his team is going to play the game against Puerto Rico, as "they are going through a lot of adversity, which does not allow this young group of people to perform to the best of their ability." Seems like there will be another last-minute decision…

- Puerto Rico's players were in the stands to watch the game and stayed there also for Greece against Lebanon. They were joined by Brazilians while the Germans left in the second half of the Cape Verde - New Zealand game to attend their daily press conference,

- The Greeks finally had their first appearance and a little bit more than half of the gym was packed in the Greek colors. Lebanon had also their support in one corner although it was expected to be a one-sided game. And that's exactly what happened. Greece dominated from the beginning to the end (A lot of spectacular plays were showed off by Papaloukas, Spanoulis and others), showing no mercy with the guests from the Middle-east. It was a basketball demonstration and the hosts are the true favorites to win it (Or let's say to win the semis as there is no final game), even if Papaloukas denied to fit into that role as it was too early to judge over one game he said afterwards.

- Now I understand one banner of the Greek fans which said "Greece got (basket) balls."

- Win a tasty gyros pita if you know the name of this player right here. We will reveal his identity at the next game when we strip off the tape during the halftime break!

That's for today; stay tuned for more stuff coming up these days!

I'm out like pita without tzatziki…