Hoopin' it up in the Bahamas, Day III
5/16/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Hey everyone back home!
This is Brandie Buckless and I’m going to be reporting our second day in the Bahamas to you all.
This morning we woke up to our worst fear in the Bahamas: no sun and lots of rain. And when I say rain, I’m not just talking about a little drizzle, I’m talking about a down pour!
Well, instead of laying by the beach, like we did yesterday, we went on a tour of downtown Nassau. We got to see some of the important buildings in Nassau, including the U.S. Embassy, the governor’s house, and even the Supreme Court building (where all the Anna Nicole Smith hearings have been happening).
One of the coolest places that we saw was a place called Atlantis. Atlantis is a big resort on a separate island called Paradise Island. We had to drive over a bridge to get there, and it was pretty amazing.
The hotel consists of three large towers with over 1,200 rooms in each. Outside of one of the towers, there was a pool with dolphins that people can pay to swim with. I couldn’t believe it. And, there were some rooms in the hotel going for $25,000 a night! Our guide told us that Oprah and Bill Clinton have stayed in those rooms before. Tomorrow we’re going on a more extensive tour of Atlantis, so I’m sure the journal for tomorrow will have more to share about it.
So, after our bus tour, we got dropped off in Nassau to find a place to eat lunch. Most of us decided to go to Senor Frogs, which is a bar and restaurant. There were a ton of people there on vacation that looked as though they had been partying and drinking all day. While we were eating, a train of dancing people started going through the restaurant. They asked Callie and I to jump in, and we were going to, until we saw that it was also a shot line! We decided that the coaches probably wouldn’t appreciate us partaking in that activity. After lunch we went back to the hotel to get ready for our first game, which started at 8 p.m.
There were quite a few interesting things that happened at our game.
First, we didn’t get started right away because one of the refs was late and the coach was still trying to call and get players to show up and play.
We played four 10-min quarters, and if a team got to five fouls in one quarter, the other team would automatically get two free-throws. Becca (Mercer) found out that apparently you’re not allowed to dribble at the free-throw line, pick up the ball, and then dribble again.
We also found out that Bahamian refs don’t like to call offensive fouls. Poor Jamie (Thornton), Jenny (Heringer), and Erica (Perry) all laid their bodies out on the line to get the charge, but got blocking calls instead.
Then, half way through the fourth quarter, the lights went out in the gym! The Bahamian players acted like it wasn’t a big deal and the refs didn’t say anything, so we played the rest of the game with just a few random lights still on.
I thought it was a lot of fun. It was more like “street ball.” Nevertheless, we came out with the win, 62-50.
It was an interesting experience and I can’t wait to see what tomorrow’s game brings!
This is Brandie Buckless and I’m going to be reporting our second day in the Bahamas to you all.
This morning we woke up to our worst fear in the Bahamas: no sun and lots of rain. And when I say rain, I’m not just talking about a little drizzle, I’m talking about a down pour!
Well, instead of laying by the beach, like we did yesterday, we went on a tour of downtown Nassau. We got to see some of the important buildings in Nassau, including the U.S. Embassy, the governor’s house, and even the Supreme Court building (where all the Anna Nicole Smith hearings have been happening).
One of the coolest places that we saw was a place called Atlantis. Atlantis is a big resort on a separate island called Paradise Island. We had to drive over a bridge to get there, and it was pretty amazing.
The hotel consists of three large towers with over 1,200 rooms in each. Outside of one of the towers, there was a pool with dolphins that people can pay to swim with. I couldn’t believe it. And, there were some rooms in the hotel going for $25,000 a night! Our guide told us that Oprah and Bill Clinton have stayed in those rooms before. Tomorrow we’re going on a more extensive tour of Atlantis, so I’m sure the journal for tomorrow will have more to share about it.
So, after our bus tour, we got dropped off in Nassau to find a place to eat lunch. Most of us decided to go to Senor Frogs, which is a bar and restaurant. There were a ton of people there on vacation that looked as though they had been partying and drinking all day. While we were eating, a train of dancing people started going through the restaurant. They asked Callie and I to jump in, and we were going to, until we saw that it was also a shot line! We decided that the coaches probably wouldn’t appreciate us partaking in that activity. After lunch we went back to the hotel to get ready for our first game, which started at 8 p.m.
There were quite a few interesting things that happened at our game.
First, we didn’t get started right away because one of the refs was late and the coach was still trying to call and get players to show up and play.
We played four 10-min quarters, and if a team got to five fouls in one quarter, the other team would automatically get two free-throws. Becca (Mercer) found out that apparently you’re not allowed to dribble at the free-throw line, pick up the ball, and then dribble again.
We also found out that Bahamian refs don’t like to call offensive fouls. Poor Jamie (Thornton), Jenny (Heringer), and Erica (Perry) all laid their bodies out on the line to get the charge, but got blocking calls instead.
Then, half way through the fourth quarter, the lights went out in the gym! The Bahamian players acted like it wasn’t a big deal and the refs didn’t say anything, so we played the rest of the game with just a few random lights still on.
I thought it was a lot of fun. It was more like “street ball.” Nevertheless, we came out with the win, 62-50.
It was an interesting experience and I can’t wait to see what tomorrow’s game brings!
Wednesday, June 10
Friday, March 27
Monday, March 23
Friday, March 13
