We arrived in Windsor last night around 9:30 p.m.. We left Baltimore at 2:07 p.m. for Chicago to connect to our next flight to Detroit. While in the airport in Chicago I ran into Cole Aldrich (Kansas Jawhawk center that I coached at ABCD camp one summer). I had a chance to congratulate him on winning the National Championship (I haven't seen him since camp but talk to his coaches at Kansas all the time) and rap to Bill Self (head coach of Kansas) and Kurtis Townsend (assistant coach at Kansas and one of my former assistants at Cal). I know there are quite a few teams in Canada this weekend playing exhibition games. The Kansas team was headed to Ottawa for three games. We joked around and wished each other luck on the trips and the upcoming season, they caught their connection and Mike Cannon (our trainer) and I ran to terminal 3 to get some Garrett's popcorn! If you don't know...now you know...you need to try the Carmel and Cheese mix! It's off the hook! Anyone who has had it or lives in Chi town will tell you! They just opened up a store in the airport and there wasn't a line. That won't last for long!
Once in the big D, we got our bags and proceeded to our bus (freshmen have to carry the bulk of the bags....uniforms, camera etc. A rule I've always had. Yes! Jason Kidd carried bags as a freshmen). After a rather lengthy stop at customs we arrived at the Hilton ready to eat. The hotel is right on the Detroit river and we are looking at Detroit from our hotel windows. Detroit is the location of the 2009 Final Four. So we're getting a scouting report on things to do during the Final Four cause from what we hear, a lot of the coaches functions will take place in Windsor.
Well if your looking for me to say we ate at great restaurant...it ain't gonna happen. The rest of the staff ate what was suppose to be Gyros but it wasn't very appealing to me so I took down their insurance information, had them write down what they wanted me to say to their loved ones and went next door and had some pizza. lol They all wished they had waited and had some pizza pie! Throw back saying huh? When we got back to the hotel around 12 midnight or so...I ran into the basketball team from Southern Illinois. They are in Windsor playing the same teams we are playing. I had a chance to rap to Chris Lowery, their head coach and meet his wife for the first time. Chris and I know each other and have rapped before but I didn't know that he was a player on the Southern Illinois team that was in the same NCAA region with my Cal team in 1993. That year they lost to Duke in the first round and we beat Duke to advance to the sweet 16. Damn! I told him....I feel really old now! Chris is doing a great job at SIU and they are lucky to have him.
I'm up this morning reflecting on the travel day, listening to Al Green (on my iPod i-Fusion) and getting ready for our 10:30 a.m practice. We play tonight at 7 p.m. I think I need to research how to get my AARP card next! Take Me To The River........Al Green.....keep up folks! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment