Grilled Shrimp (with heads attached)
Mike Conley shows off his souvenir glasses bought by Brian Cardinal and given to the team's four rookies.
Casey Jacobsen
Note: Casey's blog is under development and will begin very soon. Until then, he continues posting from Málaga, Spain.
After a few days of adjusting to the time change and a new environment, our team is settling down just fine here in Spain. The weather in Málaga has been perfecto and our hotel has been very accommodating. Hardly any of us (besides Pau Gasol and Juan Carlos Navarro) speak the language, yet the people have tolerated our requests for “mas steak-o” and “agua with no bubbles.” To our credit, we are trying our best to adapt and a lot of the guys are learning to speak Spanish pretty well. Another week of this and I think some of the players are going to forfeit their contracts in Memphis and sign with some Spanish basketball teams. (See photos from training camp)
On Saturday night, Pau “Meal Ticket” Gasol decided to live up to his nickname and treat everyone (players only) to an authentic Spanish meal. We rode the team bus 30 minutes outside of Málaga to a town with a name that I can’t pronounce nor remember. With Pau’s Spanish superpowers, we were able to get a private room overlooking the marina at a nice steak/seafood restaurant. The food was different. I’m not saying it was bad…it was just different. Appetizers consisted of cured ham, grilled shrimp (with the heads still attached!), oysters, and calamari. From the look on Hakim Warrick’s face, I’m assuming he’d never seen these types of food prepared like this in his life.
Most of the guys ordered steak or fish for their entrees and it all tasted great. Towards the end of the meal, a lady passed by in the hallway of the restaurant selling cigars, roses, and toys for children (random, I know). When Brian Cardinal got a look at these children’s glasses that light up in rainbow colors around the rims when turned on, he quickly purchased 4 pairs for our class of rookies this year: Mike Conley, Dontell Jefferson, J.C. Navarro, and Andre Brown (he played for Seattle last year, but only half the season). If these rookies weren’t sure if they were going to be able to pick up any Spanish women later that night, these glasses were sure to seal the deal. Ahh, to be a rookie again…
Being so far away from friends and family and all that is familiar to us gets tough sometimes. We don’t really know what to do or where to go when we aren’t in the gym playing ball. Most of our time between meals and practice are spent playing video games (NBA Live 08 on Playstation 3), sleeping, and cruising the nearby streets of Málaga in search for that “special someone or something.” The televisions in our rooms consist of one English-speaking channel: CNN. As a result, I’ve never been more informed about what’s going on in the world as I am right now! Go ahead…quiz me.
As much fun as we are having, our primary goal has always been basketball. We are here to complete our training camp and win 2 basketball games in the coming days against tough opponents. Our first challenge comes this Tuesday night against Unicaja Málaga. I know a lot of people in the United States have probably never heard of this team before, but they are one of the best teams in all of Europe. In 2006, they won their first ever Spanish League championship as well as finishing 5th in “Euroleague” (unquestionably the second-best basketball league in the world, behind the NBA). Last season, they advanced to their first ever “Euroleague” Final Four, placing them amongst the elite teams on the continent.
Now, they have a chance to play an NBA team in their home arena and show how far they have come in their transformation. This “friendly exhibition” game will be one of the biggest opportunities Unicaja has had in the organization’s history. Having played against this team before when I was in Spain (we lost all 5 times, by the way), I’m trying to let my teammates know we should take this game very seriously. I’m extremely confident that we will.
It’s time for me to leave you now. I have so much Spanish Futbol (aka soccer) to watch I don’t even know where to start! Who wants to watch Peyton Manning when you can see Ronaldinho shred defenses in Barcelona? I’m totally kidding. I’m the biggest NFL fan there is and I’m sick that I wasn’t able to chill in front of my TV in Memphis and enjoy my “NFL Sunday Ticket” on Direct TV. I guess I can live without it for one weekend.
