So everybody is sad that it is over in Rome. At least that is what I read on every web site. I think Andrea is happy that it’s over. It could have been better from him regarding basketball and he had a nice full schedule during his days in Italy. By the way – sitting right behind the Raptors bench I noticed one thing: annoying fans! Now I do understand that they are all excited about Andrea and the Raptors but it has to be annoying to hear your name yelled all the time: “ANDREAAA! ANDREAAA!” while you sit on the bench during the game.
Some more things I noticed during these days in Rome:
- Andrea Bargnani’s shot looks weird. His eyes follow the ball as soon as he releases the ball. But what do I know – he got his shooting coaches watching him all the time
- Kevin Garnett looks stiff off the court and in practice but during his first game for the Celtics nobody was able to stop him from having a lots of fun on the court – This will be a very interesting season for the Celtics
- Spike Lee chatting with Ahmad Rashad before the game – the crowd loved it to see him here in Rome and every VIP had to get a pictures with him
- Dick Bavetta seems to be the show-off referee for the NBA
- The Palalottomatica is a great stadium for fans to watch a basketball game. I will come back to the Euroleague games of Virtus Roma and hope to have the great spot again that I had during the NBA Europe LIVE.
- Maurizio Gherardini thinks Andrea Bargnani is like a “German soldier”
- I think it was good to bring the Celtics and Raptors to Europe and especially to Rome because of Andrea but I still would have wanted to see a NBA team play against Panathinaikos or CSKA Moscow – are you scared Mr. Stern? Nah, just kidding, and actually we will see Panathinaikos a great game in San Antonio when the Euroleague Champ hits on the NBA Champ on October 15th
- Talking about Americans – Italians do believe that Americans can’t cook. This nice girl, who’s name is Pamela was working at the Palalottomatica and giving away some new style of food which was frozen – at one point she was like: “Hey, do you really need that?” I was like: “Why?!” “Cause Americans can’t cook!” was her answer.
Overall it was a very nice event in Rome and I even got to know some nice people like Fabrice, Mike, Mirco, Massimo and the guy who gave me his internet connection of course. Some other journalists though somehow missed the point of this event. It is not all about winning and being the better team – this NBA EUROPE is mainly to show what the NBA is like for the European fans. So why would you ask the coaches if if they are done recruiting and why this and that player played like crap. It is supposed to be fun! The season will start early enough – if it hasn’t started already for the European clubs.
Leave a Reply