Ryan Bowen's Road Journal

Ever wonder what NBA players to pass the time on a long road trip? Well, wonder no more. Nuggets.com had Ryan Bowen keep a journal on Denver’s recent four-game, six-day trip through Golden State, Los Angeles, Memphis and San Antonio. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at life on the road.

I have only one routine that I consistently do on the road. I start and end each day by talking to my wife Wendy and trying to get our daughter Isabel to say “da-da”.

Thursday, April 4 (Denver) -
We beat Minnesota at home to win our second-straight game over a playoff bound team. Voshon Lenardhit a big shot from the baseline with 11 seconds left that put us up by one and we got a stop on the defensive end to get the win. I played 24 minutes and was primarily matched up with Kevin Garnett. Right after the game, we hopped on our charter flight for San Francisco. I played cards with some of the guys on the plane and we landed around 12:30 a.m. We bused to the hotel and I got to my room around 1 a.m. I watched TV until I wound down around 2 a.m. and fell asleep.

Friday, April 5 (San Francisco) -
I woke up around 10:30 a.m. We had a breakfast meeting from 11-12 in the hotel to go over the scouting report for Golden State. After the meeting, I went back to my room and tried to take a nap, but I couldn’t fall asleep. I ended up watching the Giants home opener against San Diego on TV. I could see their stadium from my room. Barry Bonds hit a home run in the 10th inning to win it for the Giants. He’s been on an amazing run. I like to follow baseball. I was a pitcher in high school and was named All-State as a senior. Being from Fort Madison, Iowa, I grew up a fan of the Cubs. After the game, I started packing and got ready to leave for our game. We hopped on the bus at 5 p.m. Guys get ready for the game in different ways. Some lift a little. Some get there early to get in some extra shots. Some get treatment and some watch game tape. I usually get treatment and then get some shots up.

We ended up losing to Golden State. I started and played 13 minutes. I felt a little sluggish from playing the night before. Back to back games are tough in the NBA, but you’ve got to suck it up and play as hard as you can. We had a pretty small starting lineup and I was guarding Danny Fortson, who outweighs me by about 50 pounds. That was tough. We erased a 22-point deficit in the second half, but we ran out of gas at the end. After the game was over, we left for L.A. I slept for most of the flight. We got into L.A. around midnight and I just watched some TV before I fell asleep.


Saturday, April 6 (Los Angeles) -
I got up around 9:30 a.m. and grabbed breakfast. I watched myself on Inside Stuff. It was pretty good. Kiki Vandeweghe, our General Manager, set up a round of golf for a group of us at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks. That’s where Tiger went one on one with David Duval a couple of years ago. About 12 of us played, including Scott Williams, Calbert Cheaney, a couple of our assistant coaches and a couple of guys from our staff. We teed off around 12:30 p.m. I played with Scott, Calbert and Rene Pharisian – a member out there. It was an unbelievable day. The course was awesome and the weather was perfect. There were some huge houses on the course, including one I guess Wayne Gretzky lives in. I didn’t bring my clubs, so I had to use rentals. It’s a little hard to find rental clubs for a 6-9 guy, so they were a little short and I struggled on the front nine. On the back, I used Scotty’s clubs and did much better. I shot a 41 on the back, which was pretty good considering I was teeing off with a six-iron most of the time.

After golf I went back to our hotel and showered up. Then I went out to dinner with Mark Randall. I went back to my room after that and watched a little of the Rockies and Dodgers game on TV and got to bed early. There were a group of guys that went to the game, but I was pretty tired, so I passed, although I wanted to go.

Sunday, April 7 (Los Angeles) -
I got up at 9 a.m. and ordered my usual game day breakfast: Frosted Flakes and white toast. At home it’s Golden Grahams and wheat toast. We left for shootaround at the Staples Center at 10:30 a.m. and had our walk through from 11-12. After shootaround, Donnell Harvey, Chris Andersenand James Poseyparticipated in the unofficial Nuggets dunk contest. I decided to sit it out. Chris won. He had a nice 360 and dunked over our strength coach, Steve Hess. I think I could have taken him! We went back to hotel and it was a short day because of the early start time (6 p.m.). I just ordered some lunch, watched TV and got ready for game. We didn’t play well at all and got blown out by Clippers. I came off the bench and played only nine minutes. After the game I went out with some guys from the team to eat at the Cheesecake Factory in Beverly Hills. We stayed overnight in L.A., which was rare. We usually leave for the next city right after the game.

Monday, April 8 (Los Angeles) –
I got up at 8 a.m. and went to work out with Steve. I rode the bike for a half hour and lifted for a half hour. Then we went back to hotel and caught the bus for the airport. We left for Memphis at around 11:30. It was a long plane ride and I slept for most of the trip. I played a little cards. We got to Memphis around 6 p.m. with the time difference, so that sort of killed most of the day. I met up with a college friend of mine and his wife and we went out to dinner. I got to bed fairly early.

Tuesday, April 9 (Memphis) –
I got up at 9 a.m. and had my usual breakfast of champions. We had shootaround at The Pyramid in the morning. I went back to our hotel, The Peabody, and watched the famous Peabody ducks march in. That was pretty funny. Then I went up to my room and watched my soaps: All My Children, One Life to Live and a little General Hospital, while I ate my lunch and packed. I got in a brief nap and went over to the arena around 5 p.m. I was back in the starting lineup and had to guard Pau Gasol. We didn’t play too well again. To make matters worse, I took a knee to the ribs trying to draw a charge on Stromile Swift. I played alright before then. After the game, we flew to San Antonio. I watched Reindeer Games on the plane, which was a pretty good movie. I was pleasantly surprised. Carlos Arroyo let me borrow it for awhile.

Wednesday, April 10 (San Antonio) –
I woke up for our breakfast meeting in the morning and was pretty sore from shot I took from Stromile. I had problems getting to sleep the night before. I couldn’t get comfortable. After our meeting, I went back to my room to watch my soaps again only to find out that they were the same ones that were on in Memphis. I watched them anyway in case I missed something the first time. I took a brief nap then got up and watched the end of the Rockies game and the end of the Cubs game. I had a late lunch then went to the game. Coach Evans decided not to play me against the Spurs so I could rest a little. We didn’t play very well in the first half, but trimmed a 21-point deficit to six in the fourth period. Our young guys really played well. Unfortunately we ran out of time. After the game, we flew back to Denver.

I was really ready to get home. It was a long trip considering we just had a five-game trip out East. I’m really looking forward to getting back home to see my wife and daughter.