QBL 2012 Schedule

Below is the Gold Coast Rollers' schedule for the 2012 Queensland Basketball League (home games in bold):

Saturday, May 12 at South West
Sunday, May 20 vs. Bundaberg
BYE
Sunday, June 3 vs. Ipswich
Sunday, June 10 vs. Toowoomba
Saturday, June 16 vs. South West
BYE
Friday, June 29 at Mackay
Saturday, June 30 at Rockhampton
Saturday, July 7 vs. Townsville
Saturday, July 14 at Bundaberg
Saturday, July 21 at Toowoomba
Sunday, July 22 vs. Cairns
Sunday, July 29 vs. Gladstone
Saturday, August 4 at Ipswich
Sunday, August 5 at Northside
Sunday, August 12 vs. Maroochydore
Saturday, August 18 at Brisbane

The top two teams from each pool (three pools) advance to the playoffs. Our pool is formed by:
South West Pirates
Gold Coast Rollers
Ipswich Force
Toowoomba Mountaineers

In other extremely exciting news, I now have an Australian phone. In the words of the great Carly Rae Jepsen:

"Here's my number: +61-41-655-0566. So call me, maybe?"

WILL DUNK FOR FOOD!

The Limited First Edition Ballin' on a Budget T-Shirts have finally arrived at BOB World Headquarters, and are eagerly awaiting to grace the bodies of BOB Nation!

We now move from pre-sale mode to SALE MODE! To everyone who has purchased one so far: a big THANK YOU. They should be arriving at your households very soon.

100% cotton and domestically produced, these t-shirts are this summer's hottest buy and a great wear for both casual outings and business functions. And we ship to anywhere in the world! All for $20!

Medium - USD20.00Large - USD20.00X-Large - USD20.00XX-Large - USD20.00

(And 31 "likes" until 250! Be sure to join BOBNation below and you could win a free t-shirt!)

A Day Down Undah

Plan B Family

In my never-ending (and so far unsuccessful) quest to sneak myself onto the bigscreen (The Big Time: finalist, but didn't make the show... Hollywood Take 2: showed up to be an extra, said they didn't take people with pinkies split in half...The NBA Dunk Contest: said they would show our video on TV, didn't), I've discovered a new and ground-breaking formula that may work: become roommates with someone who is cooler and prettier than you and have them get on a reality TV show so you can tag along in the background and ride off their successes. Boom.

My roommate, Ty, has been selected to be in an Australian reality TV show, one similar to that of MTV's Real World. It's called Plan B Family (no, it has nothing to do with Plan B contraceptives...but go ahead and insert any joke that involves Jersey Shore and birth control). "Plan B Tours" is a famous party tour group that pub-crawls their way through Gold Coast's nightlife. Considering Ty knows everyone in Surfers Paradise, he is a perfect fit for the show.

They will be filming the pilot program in a couple weeks (www.facebook.com/PlanBFamily, www.planbfamily.com.au), when Ty will get to spend a week in a mansion doing cool stuff (and his less-flattering roommate will annoyingly be trying to get in front of the camera whenever possible).

Team BOB: Lets get to 250!

Wahoo! BOBNation.com has now reached 200 likes. Back when we hit our 100th "liker", our next goal was established: 250 likes.

In order to help reach our goal, a free Limited First Edition Ballin' on a Budget T-shirt will be given to 10 of the next 50 people who like BOBNation.com!

That's a 20% chance of getting a $20 T-shirt!! Let's break down your next move into an expected outcome analysis:

(probability of outcome) * (value of outcome) = (expected value of choosing this option)

Option A ("like" the page): (20%) * ($20) = $4
Option B (do nothing): (0%) * ($0) = $0

According to centuries of economic research, it is in your best interest to choose Option A!!!

And again, in all seriousness, a big thank-you to the 200 who are already suiting up for the BOB Squad. Your support has been amazing and instrumental in this journey. I hope to continue to share it all with you.

Gold Coast Rollers

I am ecstatic to announce that I am now a member of the Gold Coast Rollers for the 2012 season (May-August). The Rollers are part of the 13-team QBL (Queensland Basketball League), which is the largest league in the ABA (Australian Basketball Association). I'm excited to be a part of this storied program and help the team in whatever way I can to earn a championship.

To celebrate in true Aussie fashion, I feasted on Kangaroo meat for dinner tonight. My stomach has been turning ever since. Not because it didn't taste good (it was delicious), but because I just found out there are killer Kangaroos out there that really can box. Oh yea, and these killer boxing kangaroos are named Willard...

Neighbors

Bronze Medal Game: Australia-103 Taiwan-87

87

103

With a chip on our shoulders for not being in the championship match, we came out ready to play against Taiwan in the Bronze Medal Game of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup. It was a fast-paced, high-scoring match-up, and a fun one to play in as we earned the third place finish.

Stats from the game here...FIBA: Australia vs. Chinese Taipei

We spend one last day in Kuala Lampur, then its back "home" to the Gold Coast. A big thank you to the city of Ipoh, Tommy our host, and all the other teams in the tournament who we became great friends with off the court.

Warning: time for Willard's deep, emotional, existential thoughts...

With all of the sometimes negative going-ons across the globe that inevitably arise, it is pretty neat how a simple game of hoops can bridge such fantastic intercultural relationships. Now despite trying to bash each others heads in during the game, international basketball tournaments like these act as informal peace conferences. But instead of "Peace Talks" being written on some agenda with a fancy letterhead, where foreign delegates sit around in their suits and ties and attempt to discuss "peace", what thousands witnessed in a remote Southeast Asian city this past week was peace in ACTION. Players exchanging gifts and handshakes, picking each other up off the ground after a physical play, engaging in dunk-offs during warm-ups to the delight of the fans, going out for food after the game, then, thanks to these incredible advances in technology, being able to stay closely connected forever via the likes of Facebook, email, and the web. You don't need to sign the dot anywhere on that.

Australia-76 China-93

93

76

After going up 28-19 after the first quarter, we couldn't subdue China's offensive attack in the second half, and fell to a great team in the Cup semifinals. They could stroke it from the outside, got out on the fast break, and had a solid inside game as well. They capitalized on our errors, and were ultimately the better team. A bitter loss that stings, we'll need to refocus in a rematch versus Taiwan in the bronze medal game tomorrow.

Some more pictures from this week:

Definitely not a foul....the ref thought otherwise.

#14...1/4...January 4th...Momma Johnson's birthday

I still have a long ways up to go...

I was too busy staring at his bright yellow shoes...

My roommate, Ty, who can jump much higher than me, and who lets me know every day he can jump much higher than me

Versus Singapore

The $25,000 Championship Trophy

A picture of our team and other teams at a banquet in the local newspaper