Whats up everyone,

Happy Halloween.  I guess Halloween isn't as big in Sweden as it is in the states.  But Im sure there's some costume parties going on out there.  It was a pretty quite day here.  We didn't have a morning workout so I was able to sleep in but I woke up around 8 and wasn't able to fall back asleep.  I don't know what it was but I was just couldn't sleep so I got up and made a good breakfast.  Bacon and eggs with some toast and orange juice.  It was good stuff.  After that I made it over to Hasse's to get a lift in followed by lunch at Andreas.  

We had practice at a gym over by the football stadium.  Practice was pretty light as we only played half court for about an hour.  But while we were on the court we were getting after it.  Coach wasn't there because he had some things to do in Stockholm so Jonas was running the show.  I think we could have played some full court and that would have been good for us.  I was talking to Tony after practice and we were talking about what we could do to help us prepare for games better.  We both agreed that we need to get up and down that court a little more.   

After practice I had to get some laundry done.  I was the last thing that I wanted to be doing but it was the only time available.  Once I got that over with I made dinner for the first time in a while.  Nothing fancy, just some steak and potatoes.  I made a little too much but it'll be good leftovers for lunch tomorrow.  Im just getting ready to take off to go see the new Bond movie with a couple of the guys.  The 9:00 show was sold out so were going to the 11:30 show.  We won't get home until late so it's a good thing we got tomorrow off.  I'll let you know how it was tomorrow.  Have a good one and thanks for checking in.  Later.

Ryan 

Hey Everyone,

So this morning started out pretty tough.  I woke up and was feeling pretty sore from the previous day's stairs workout.  But once we got to the gym and started shooting things started to loosen up a bit.  We got alot of shots up this morning.  We each had a partner and took turns shooting 25 shots apiece until we got 300 shots up.   After that we went to Hasse's gym to get a lift in before lunch.  I was lifting a bit with Simon and Hank and was really impressed with how much stronger they've gotten since last year.  They worked hard this off season and you can really tell.  Hank was even doing squats today, even after our day yesterday, which was crazy to me.  I don't plan on working my legs for a while, there so sore right now.  A buddy of Hasse, who works at a sport institute in Florida, was there to show us some lifts we can do to help get us in good basketball shape.  I have never done the work outs he suggested, so im looking forward to put them in my program.  I hope to get a few more suggestions from him what I can do to work on being more explosive.  After we finished lifting we headed over to Andreas for lunch.  Things are a little different for us during lunch now.  Before, we would eat the same thing as the regular paying customers and got all the lingon juice we could drink.  But now, Andreas cooks us something special each day.  It usually consists of a pasta with a chicken or beef sauce to put on top.  Its delicious as always, but we have to watch out, because sometimes the regular customers try and sneak a little bit of our food on their plates.  The first day this happened Hank was all over it, letting everyone know this was our food.  But he's been slipping the past couple of days.  A couple people have slipped past him so Im not sure if we can rely on Hank to be the team food enforcer anymore.   The only downside of our new setup is that we only get one glass of lingon each day.  And today was the best lingon of the year, no doubt.  It was ice cold and full of flavor.  Once you started to drink you couldn't put it down till you finished it.  I think King put a glass down in record time.  

After we finished eating everyone went home and I think most of us took a nap.  I had a great nap, but when I woke up I was feeling more sore than I did this morning.  Im not sure if it was from lifting earlier or what, but the nap didn't help as much as I thought it was going to.  Instead of practicing in Borashallen we had practice at Englebreken.  It's always a bit of a struggle to practice away from our home court.  The rims are always a little different, the floor isn't quite the same.  But what can you do?  We play trough it and try to get better.  We'll have away games where we'll have to get used to the conditions so maybe it's a good thing to get us out of our comfort zone.  Practice went well.  We didn't go that long, but for the time that we did go, we played hard.  We pretty much just played 5 on 5 full court.   It wasn't always pretty, were trying to change some things up and it's gonna take a while.  But I think were headed in the right direction and everyone is on the same page for what we want to accomplish.  

After practice I had every intention to go to the store and cook up a good dinner of steak and potatoes but I got a call from Chris saying a couple of guys were going to Alle Terresson.  Now, I know I've gone out to eat every night that I've blogged, but you gotta believe I usually don't eat out this much.  But when a teammate calls and says they're all getting some dinner, I can't turn that down.  So Chris, Hank, King, Dennis and I went out and had some great pizza again.  Except Dennis he got some pasta.   After that, I went to the store to get some things for breakfast and dinner tomorrow night.  I will cook tomorrow night.  That is, unless I get a call that some of the guys are going out.  And now, Im just getting ready to call it a night.  Will probably watch an episode of the Sapranos before I head to bed.  We don't have a morning workout, so Im looking forward to sleeping in.  Hope everyone had a good day and Ill be back with more tomorrow.  Have a good one.

Ryan 

What's up Boras Fans?

Im hurting right now.   Last night after the game we didn't find out if we had practice or not today, so when I got the text this morning that we were gonna practice I was a little worried.  Usually when we play a game, and don't have another one until the next week, we get the next day off.  So going into practice I figured we were gonna be doing some running but I had no idea it was gonna be for 2 straight hours.  Once everyone was on the court, Coach brought us together and we talked about some issues with the team thats going on.  We talked about attitude and how important it is for us to have a good one, how we carry ourselves and what not.  I agree with all that, I think we feed off each other and it's important for us to all be on the same page with everyone being positive.  Just one person who is feeling bad about things can affect everyone.  After we were done with that little meeting Coach told us we wouldn't be needing the baskets or balls because we would just be running.  So he explained what he wanted and it consisted of this:

running up the stairs, running behind the seating to the other end of the court, down the stairs, defensive slide along the baseline to the other set of stairs, running up those stairs, running behind the seats to the other end, down the other set of stairs, defensive slide along the baseline to where we first started and doing it all over again.  

We did this for two straight hours.  It was brutal.   And Im feeling it right now.  I gotta give some props out to Hank though.  He was a machine out there.  Johan and Jonas did a great job too.  Jonas amazed me, he's the old man on the team but he was putting most of us to shame.  He's mentally tough and that's something we need from everyone on the team.  I felt bad for Kingma.  After the game last night I asked Hasse what time he was gonna do his spin class.  I told him I'd be there and Kingma said he'd go as well.  But since I didn't get to bed until late I decided to skip the spin class but King went to it.  So after working hard in the spin class he had to do the 2 hour stair session as well.  That's tough.   Im kind of afraid to go to bed now because I know when I wake up I'll be feeling worse than I do now.  We have a morning practice at 10 tomorrow as well and I think were gonna need some extra time to warm up.  

It was funny though, for as much as we were complaining about running, afterwards in the locker room everyone was in a good mood.  We were laughing about how much we were hurting, Dennis made the biggest protein shake ever that he couldn't finish, guys were seeing how much weight they lost.  King won a scale for the man of the match and he keeps it in the locker room.  A couple guys weighed themselves before the stair session and then weighed themselves after it.  I think Hank was the biggest loser, losing close to 3 kilos.  And of course, since I was so tired, there was no way I was cooking tonight.  I hit up Spice & Rice on the way home and ran into Chris there.  I've already finished eating but am starving right now.  I think we burned alot of calories today.  So Im gonna go cook some eggs or something now.  Hope your all feeling better than I am right now.  Have a good one and I'll be back tomorrow with more on what's going on.   Take care.

Ryan 

Hey Everyone,

Sorry about not writing a blog last night but I didn't get home until pretty late after the game and just wanted to go to bed.  After the game Chris, Hank, and I went out to dinner and after that, headed over to Chris' place to watch the opening night of the NBA.  In case you didn't know we lost last night to Gothia in a disappointing game for us.  What was really frustrating was we were the home team with a great crowd behind us and in the first half we just played uninspired basketball.  There was no emotion out there and  the visiting Gothia team were the aggressors.  At halftime, Coach mentioned how gamedays are supposed to be the days we look forward to all week.  Gamedays are why we lift weights and practice hard every day.  And for us to come out and play the way we did was just unacceptable.  I was glad to see we were able to come out in the second half with more energy and a purpose.  But why we couldn't come out like that to begin with is beyond me.  We were down by about 9 points at the half and it's hard to come back like that.  You use alot of energy trying to make a comeback.  At the beginning of the second half we did a great job of coming out and scoring.  Dennis was doing a great job of putting pressure on them by attacking the basket but we couldn't get any stops.  We were just trading baskets and couldn't cut into their lead.  And what's really frustrating for me is I feel like that was my fault and I let my teammates down.  The player I was guarding, Moore, got hot and scored about 8 points in a row and I couldn't stop him.  They were running him off screens and he was shooting when he got it.  I knew what they were doing and I couldn't stop it.  But I gotta give Gothia credit, they came out and played well and when we did cut it down to 1 or 2 points they hit some tough shots.  Earlier in the year we talked about how, after games, we didn't want to be too high or too low emotionally.  It would be better if we can keep it even, not too high, not too low.  But after a game like last night, it's hard not to feel upset about it.  But we gotta move on right?  All we can do is just try and learn from this game and take something away from it.  We have Norkkoping next week and that is gonna be a tough game on the road.  We need to have a good week of practice and keep our heads up.  I know we're a good team and there is still a long ways to go before the season is over.  

Well, I think I've ranted enough.  Im gonna get going but Ill be back to blog again tonight.  Thanks for everyone who came out to the game last night, it was a great crowd and I hope to see you out there again next home game.  Later.

Ryan 

What's up everyone??

So it's my turn to blog for the week and I gotta admit, Im feeling some pressure to live up to some high expectations that Dennis and King have set.  My mom always talks about how much she enjoys reading their blogs and how informative they are.  I asked her "What about the Swedish guys?" but she said she can't read Swedish so she couldn't comment on them.   

We lost a tough game last night to 08, but as Kingma said, we can't dwell on it because we have another  tough game against Gothia tomorrow.  They're coming off a big win against Jamtland so Im sure they're feeling pretty confident right now.  Coach, Dennis, and I went to go watch that game and they looked good.  We had a long trip back from Stockholm and didn't get back until early in the morning so I think everyone was a bit tired when we went to go lift at Hasse's gym this morning.  Practice was pretty light because we didn't want to get too worn out for the game tomorrow.  But we worked on a few things that we expect to see from Gothia and we feel good about our game plan.  After practice King, Dennis, Chris, Rasmus, Hank, and I went to go eat at the best pizza place in Boras.  I know King talked about how much Dennis raved about it and I gotta agree with Dennis.  Best Pizza in Boras, hands down.  The place is called Alle terrassen, if you've been there you know what Im talking about.  I've only had the Santa Maria pizza but it so good, im afraid to try anything else.  If anyone out there has any recommendations on some good restaurants in Boras I'd love to hear them.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy cooking a good meal.  But sometimes, after a tough practice, the last thing I feel like doing is spending a hour in the kitchen cooking.  

 Well, i gotta get some rest for our game tomorrow.  I hope to see you all at the game and we can get a big win.   I'll be back tomorrow to let you know how the game went.   Have a good one.

Ryan 

Hello everyone we just got back home from stockholm after a pretty brutal loss to 08, once again we started great and got a nice lead but in the 2nd quarter stockhom played great and were hitting everything and at half time the game was tied at 47. The rest of the game the scores were pretty close and both teams were fighting hard for the win, i had a shot with about 5 secs left to put us up 1 but missed (doh!) then we fouled and still had a chance to tie the game up with about 3 seconds left but couldn't get a clear shot off and stockholm came away with the win. It was a tough loss to take and no game this year has come easy but we have a big game on tuesday against our cross town rivals gothenburg so we don't have time to sit around and feel sorry for ourselves, this is a huge game for us so do your best to get down to the game and cheer us on! Well it's late and i am very sore and tired so i am going to try get some sleep, i'm not sure if i am still blogging tomorrow or not so take care and ill see you at a game sometime or around town! Be well.

KINGMA AKA GENERAL TARFFUL.

Good morning everyone sorry i didn't blog last night my internet kept cutting out and i had an early night! Today we travel to stockholm to play 08, should be another tough game but again if we play to our ability we should get the job done, Yesterday we had another good practice and went over our gameplan one last time before we head off this morning, after practice we went into town for the breast cancer research thingy i talked about on friday to light up some candles and i even managed to sell a few!! jonas wouldn't let any of us go home until we sold at least 4 each so we all put on our charm and did our best to raise some money!! It worked out well most of us sold them pretty quick and we were off home to get some rest and prepare for todays game, dennis and ryan went somewhere in town to eat pizza and when dennis got home he was so exited about it he told me all about it on msn, he said it was the best pizza in boras by far and can't wait to go back there, he was going on and on and on i was like damm man it's only pizza relax, but i must admit i am very curious about how good it actually is i mean he has pumped it up so much now it better be good or im gonna be pissed!! Anyway i got to get ready for the bus trip to stockhom i will be on later tonight when i get back home to tell you about the game.. take care. Oh i just found out my girlfriend is reading this so hello kate hope you are well can't wait to see you in january!!

 KINGMA AKA GENERAL TARFFUL.

Hello again hope all is well in your world, today started off for me a little bit earlier thyna usual, me and tony went for a school visit at 8am to do some coaching for some students, we were a little late because tony got us lost and didn't know where he was going and we almost ended up in gothenburg but eventually we got there and all was good, the kids were doing a layup drill and i was under the basket playing defense, it was block central for me as i was having a feild day sending their shots into the stands it was great fun! But there were a few sneaky kids that were swooping past me and making me look bad which wasn't so fun.. after that i went home for a few hours to lok then i went to lunch and andreas didn't disapoint as usual i think today was the best lunch i have ever had there! they had all different kinds of meat and chicken it was simply outstanding, i was so tired by the time i got home and had a big nap before practice but felt great when i woke up and was ready to battle again for another day. joakim was on fire today hitting everything and scoring like a machine, after practice a few of us went to the thai buffet in town, they are never happy when they see me going in there because i go nuts on the food and definately get my moneys worth, now i am at home chilling, watching a bit of tv, probly have an early night tonight as we got practice at 9.30 tomorrow and we need to have a good 1 to prepare for stockholm on sunday,tomorrow we will be in town to help raise money for breast cancer research so if anyone is around make sure you come and say hello! See you tomorrow!

KINGMA AKA GENERAL TARFFUL

Firstly yesterday i forget to give a shoutout to dennis as it was he's birthday yesterday and i could tell he was pissed about it so happy birthday for yesterday man!! Today started off with shooting in the morning and i was a little tired from all the poker shananigans from the night before but i was still in amazing form and shooting well, hank wasn't to happy about what i wrote about him yesterday and was having a bit of a cry, i did go a bit overboard in my criticism of hank but he knows im just joking around so all is good, in all honesty i really suck at poker but one day hopefully i will be half decent enough to be able to win a borasbasket poker tournament. After shooting it was taco day at andreas which was awesome as i love mexican food and made sure that i ate as much as i could. I had to do washing when i got home which to me is the worst part of my week i despise washing it really annoys me and i wish i didn't have to do it but unfortunately it must be done as i don't want to smell like tim hakkinan and need to have my stuff clean. As soon as my washing was complete it was time for practice and i was feeling a little tired from the early morning shooting and the washing (for me this is a big day) so i tried my best to pump myself up for practice because if im not on my a game ryan will destroy me and make me look bad which is what usually happens anyway! We all had a pretty good practice and as usual the rookies put the baskets away, this year our rookies are fantastic they have much respect for us old guys on the team and do what we tell them, a complete turnaround from last year(sorry simon and mikko but you guys really sucked last year in your rookie duties!) Now i am at home eating some dinner and feeling extremely tired so i think i might have an early night and get ready to do it all again tomorrow! bye for now...

KINGMA AKA GENERAL TARFFUL.

Sorry for the lateness of this post but i was at Mcdades house playing a little poker with the guys, ill get back to that a little later.. Today started off at about 9am i woke up feeling pretty happy after the win and thought id go to hasses for a bit of a spin workout, as usual hasse put me to shame on the bike he must be the fittest guy ever!! He worked us all hard though which is exaclty what i needed! After that i went to andreas for a bit of lunch and as usual it was fantastic, the lingon also was tasting like heaven. After that i was exhausted and went home and had a little nap and then went to practice, coach didn't work us that hard cause we were all feeling pretty beat up from yesterdays game but we did a lot of individual skill work and worked up a good sweat, after practice we all had our usual lok in the changeroom for a little while and then some of us decided to go to ryans house to play some poker, as usual i was playing great poker and started off pretty good but wasn't seeing many hands and people kept sucking out on me, i am clearly the most skilled player in the team but poker is a cruel game and even the best lose sometimes! The first game we played simon had a major come from behind victory in heads up against jens tillman the womens basketball coach, he had a major chip lead but simon kept doubling up and eventually won, after that we were all pretty keen to have another game so we went at it again and somehow marco caught a flush on me and took all my chips again, i did the math and it was like .0000003% percent chance that he would catch the card he needed and again i was incredibly unlucky to lose. This time it was ryan and hank heads up and it looked like ryan was going to take it out when he went all in with jq offsuit, for some weird reason hank called with 5 10 offsuit (which is possibly the worst call i have ever seen in a game of poker) and caught a ten on the flop to win it!! I have lost total respect for him as a poker player and will never ever ask him for advice again. After that i walked home feeling pretty angry that i got beat by a bunch of donkeys so i did the one thing that makes me feel better, i made myself a delicious sandwhich and started to write this blog, so yea that was pretty much my day up until now so obviously i have nothing more to say, ill be back on again tomorrow i guess i will see you then...

KINGMA AKA GENERAL TARFFUL.