Today was the first day of the 2014
World Championships. This is what we've been preparing for the past three
weeks. We've only had our full 12 member team together for three days but it's
not a terrible thing when a 6-8 player that can dunk is the final piece of the
puzzle.
Because I'm one of the team scouts, I travelled to Ankara, Turkey this morning
from Istanbul with Chris Dailey to watch the eight teams from the pools on the
other side of the bracket. I was a little skeptical traveling away from the
group, especially since our team plays their first game against China tonight but
after what I just witnessed, I realized how special an experience this really
is. I just finished watching France play the home team Turkey. The game
started at 7 p.m. local time and the arena was packed by 6:30. I
watched the introductions of both teams and then listened to 5,000 Turkish fans
proudly sing/shout their teams National Anthem before the game started. It was
pretty cool.
The game started out kind of slow, but
when Turkey's most popular player hit a three to go up two with 47 seconds to
play, I couldn't hear myself think. I'm not sure I've ever been in that kind of
environment. And this is only the first game of the tournament! It's
going to be a fun ride and I'm so glad I get to be a part of it. Now, back to
work! Brazil versus Czech Republic, coming up next!
Go USA!
