Heading into Saturdays game we knew it wouldnt be an easy one. Sitting close to the bottom of the standings, Como probably wanted the win more than we did (the bottom 2 teams from the season get moved to a lower division). They started the game like it too. In front of a smaller crowd at a very nice facuility in the city of Como, we got put onto our heals early.
2 goals right away on counter attacks and this pathetic little croud quickly turned into an Annoying little croud. We finaly "pulled our heads out" and woke up. Our offense rallied back with some strong half court and even a few counter attacks of our own. Half time it was all tied up 6-6.
Starting the 3rd period we had a man in the penelty box so it was really important that we win the opening sprint so that we would not be on defense with a man down. For some reason unknown to me they decided to give ME the task of retrieving it. When my coach told me to sprint for the ball I was more than confused. Dont get me wrong, in practice I can win all the swimsets thanks to my handy flipturns and probably because all the Italians are wondering why I am trying so hard...in practice. But if we were to have a sprint, because my stroke looks more like im having a sesiure than trying to go anywhere, I would probably finish somewhere in the lower half of my team. As we were lining up I asked Michalae "why am I sprinting?" He just looked at me with a blank face. I then told him that I cant sprint, "But I am slow". He responded with a "What?" I shot back at him "I am SLOOOW" only to get another "What?" from him. "I am F%(K&£g SLOW!", then the referee blew the whistle and I was off to the races. With 80 to 1 odds I obviously didnt win the sprint but I made up for it about a min later scoring a goal on the next offense. With a 6-7 lead we never looked back.
After a strong week of practice, and getting my strength and conditioning back, I once again was giving a starting position and the overly demanding and underappreciated job of guarding the other teams center. I dont know what my team was thinking getting some offensivly handicapped player who lies about being 6feet tall when it seems that every other team went out and used their foriegn roster spot to sign a mamouth of a center. This week I had to wrap up with a white Karl Malone look alike from Croatia. Only problem was he had some 5ft 11 and a 1/2 inch annoying American making sure this guy didnt deliver. Dont worry im not about to start talking in the third person like the real Karl Malone, I should really be taking this time to praise my team because our defense as a unit is what would prove to stop the Como attack throughout the game.
No kickouts, no goals from Karl on me and we easly dominated the second half winning 13 to 7.
Michalae came up to me 20 mins after the game ended laughing and said, "Ohhhhh You are F&$k!çg SLOOOOW"...The translation had just clicked.
BUS #10
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