The Daily Pita (Fresh from Athens) - Day Two

[by Kris SANTIAGO] - Kalimera once more to you guys!

It was a bit sad for me to see Cape Verde and Cameroon getting eliminated from the tournament, but I hope they are taking the experience of playing on such a high level and building on it for the future.

The notes for the second day:

- Canada looked fairly weak against Slovenia who took home an uncontested win to move on in the tournament.

- Samuel Dalambert had a disappointing performance (And is out of the team due to indisciplinaries for the rest of the tournament) while Slovenia was paced by Jaka Lakovic and Sani Becirovic and has now to wait for the outcome of the games of day three.

- Germany faced no trouble against Cape Verde and destroyed the inexperienced Africans by 46 points. Jeff Xavier was surprised about the talent of the big men, as he is not used to see centers scoring from long-range. “They all can shoot, no matter how tall they are,” he told me afterwards. Europe is an option for the college-hoopster in his senior-year at Providence College. Chris Kaman is still far from being integrated into the team, as he had trouble to find his role on the court, but has another chance on day three when Germany faces New Zealand to decide the first place of their group.

- Cameroon was really close to upset Puerto Rico (loaded with Arroyo, Barea and Ayuso on the perimeter), but Larry Ayuso was hitting a crucial three in the end of the game to kill Cameroon’s hopes to advance. Carlos Arroyo was flashy as ever with behind-the-back and no-look action, but the very athletic Africans gave them a hard time in the post and guarded the stars from the Caribbean island well enough to get back from a 20 point deficit, just to loose in the last two minutes. Harding Nana and Parfait Bitee were outstanding on the Cameroonian side, while the Boriqua had Arroyo with 16 and streaky Ricky Sanchez with 17 on the stat sheet.

- The Brazilians arrived in Athens by knocking Lebanon out of the tournament. Murilo da Rosa netted in 14 in 13 minutes, Marcelinho Huertas poured in 17 in 21 minutes and Baby Araujo added another 16 in 17 minutes…that’s what I call effective! But not only that, they were as spectacular as the Greek a night before, so it’s all set for day three:

- Samba vs. Sirtaki

- Roko-Leni Ukic did not play due to an injury but is going to play against Puerto Rico. 

- Rafael “Baby” Araujo of Brazil headed to the hospital with food poisoning last night and other players are complaining about the same problems already. 

- Zoran Planinic is not going to play on day three due to fever. 

- Damir Markota twisted his knee and is injured. He is set to fly to Croatia today. 

- Cameroon’s coach and the players communicated in English, although most of the people in Cameroon learned French in school due to the colonial past. 

- Ha Seung Jin had troubles to walk after the first game due to a possible knee injury.
 
- The music played during the breaks is taking me back in time…C&C Music Factory, Dr.Alban and other dancefloor stuff from the 90’s.I feel like I’m 20 again… 

- The same DJ played a Bavarian “Biergarten”-like song and the Slovenian fans went nuts…I did not know that such music is popular beyond Bavaria’ Oktoberfest. 

- The Greek announcer did his best to pronounce the names of the players right, but I had to smile when he announced “Gian Henry Juggler” and “Perfect Beat” which were Jan Hendrik Jagla and Parfait Bitee in real life. 

- I had to include this picture I made, as it was taken in the toilette which is being used by the players as it’s located near to the entry to the court. For what reason do you locate a mirror there? Hey, that’s Greek machismo:” Man, look how….my…..is!” A perfect service for the players to remind them how good (or not good) looking they are. 

I am still on a pita-diet, and it’s a perfect dish in my opinion as it’s even mathematically perfect (Where do you think it derivates from? Pitagoras!) and was introduced to a brighter media by “Pistol Pita” Maravich back then in the NBA. He had to eat at least three pitas to be productive, thanks to his Balkan background, he had no trouble to get all the ingredients to make a fine pita.

That’s all for now, - I’m out like Biergarten-music in Athens