February 12
It's only been 3 weeks since my last post, so this will probably catch everyone off guard. It's hard to believe there are only 3 games left in the regular season, it feels like the Christmas break was just last week.
Friday was a huge letdown. I think everyone was really pumped to play on Friday night, playing in front of our Homecoming crowd is always lots of fun, and a lot of students were really looking forward to a weekend game. I learned about the game being postponed walking into the sports complex for shootaround around 2:00, and thought of all the reasons why the weekend was now messed up.
1 - My parents were heading out for vacation early the next day and wouldn't be able to attend my Senior Night.
2 - My Uncle Ian (BU Superfan) regularly drives down from Ottawa for our games in Montreal, and he was on his way to Lennoxville for his first trip to BU since I've been here.
3 - A bunch of alumni were planning on coming down for the game Friday night, then Saturday we had a scrimmage scheduled, which would have been lots of fun.
4 - There's a big difference between a Friday night homecoming crowd and a Sunday afternoon one.
5 - We didn't want to wait 2 more days for another shot at Concordia.
Although the weekend may not have been as good as it could have been, I'll still look back on it with great memories. Doug McCooeye and Mike Hickey both wrote really nice stories in The Sherbrooke Record, the kind of articles I'll keep forever and show people over the years to brag about my time at Bishop's. Coach Gilpin had a really nice speech before the game, apparently there were even some tears in the crowd. Damon Thomas-Anderson (surprisingly) even had some nice things to say on the SSN broadcast. To top things off we took care of business on the court, which was the perfect way to finish Senior Afternoon.
I received a bunch of really nice messages from people in the Gaiter Family, and I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone for all the love this past weekend, I've never been more proud to be a Gaiter.
I'm not quite ready to say tomorrow night will be my last home game at BU, so we better finish the regular season off strong, and host a few playoff games.
January 22
Now that I've waited the mandatory month since my last blog post, I figured it was time to get back to blogging business. Classes are back in full swing, at least as full as they're going to get for a guy that's already graduated, and we're into the dog days of the basketball season. We're definitely looking to get back on the winning track tomorrow night against UQAM after struggling last week. After a couple losses, you really look for a little something to bring you spirits back up, and get your confidence back to where it was, and BU alumni Jordan Winnett was the source this week.
Jordan headed over to Denmark to do his masters in journalism after BU, and has continued working as a freelance writer all over Europe. His stories have been picked up by newspapers all over, including lots on locked out NHLers for the Globe and Mail, as well as a story on ex-Dukie Jon Scheyer in the Chicago Sun-Times. I jokingly asked Jordan via Twitter when he would be hitting the big time and interviewing former Purdue Superstar Robbie Hummel, and he replied something along the lines of "Oh I meant to tell you, I'll be speaking to him after his game on Sunday."
If for some reason you had not been watching college basketball over the last 5 years, you may not know Robbie Hummel. He's a lanky, blonde-haired, 6"8 forward who shoots a lot of 3's, and has had some knee troubles. His team was ranked 3rd in the country at the end of February of his 3rd year, when he tore his ACL, which was such as shame because they easily would have cruised to the NCAA tournament championship. In his final year he almost single handedly beat eventual runner up Kansas with 22 points in the 1st half, before losing by 3 in heartbreaking fashion.
Best NCAA Player Ever, Robbie Hummel
Jordan came through in the form of this photo. Now that the team knows we have Robbie Hummel pulling for us, there is no limit to what we can accomplish.
The amount of support the BU alumni gives this team is awesome, so tomorrow night we'll do our best to get back on track, and make sure there is more good news for you guys to read. I'll also do my best to make sure I give you guys an update in less than a months time.
December 17
Long time no update! I've just arrived back home in beautiful Baie d'Urfe after we wrapped up our last week of practices before Christmas. Last Saturday was really a great day for our team, starting with a quality practice early at BCS (new bleachers being installed at BU). After practice we spent the afternoon bagging groceries at Provigo to raise money for the Alexander Galt Christmas basket program, which helps out families in need around the holidays.
Jon and PK hard at work
This is the 4th year in a row that we've participated in Galt's Christmas basket program, a tradition which was started by Charles Kobelt. It's something that everyone involved can be very proud of, and we have a lot of fun doing it at the same time. It's always amazing to see how generous the Lennoxville community is every year, and so nice to see how many people are following how our team is doing and offering their support. A big thank you to Provigo's Robert Lafond for allowing us to continue to come back every year! We raised $625 dollars this year, hopefully it will make a difference in a families Christmas. Also importantly, it was another year without any broken eggs or crushed loaves of bread, we've got some solid baggers on this team.
After we were finished up at Provigo we headed over to Coach Gilpin's house for a fantastic dinner, followed by a team gift exchange. The Gilpin's cooked up quite the feast, including jerk chicken, bbq chicken, a monster ham, and Rod's world famous mandarin almond salad. The gift exchange was full of surprises for everyone, most of which were good surprises. There was lots of chocolate, lottery scratch cards with million dollar potential, an autographed poster of Jeremy Leonard-Smith, a highly sought after pineapple, a classic DVD, a very stylish new backpack for Jona, and plenty more. It was lots of fun, and provided a bunch of laughs.
Just some of the feast cooked up by Rod and Jen
We're home for a week, then it's back to work at the UQAM tournament to try and finish off 2012 on a strong note. Happy holidays to everyone in the Gaiter family!
October 28
There is nothing better than playing in another team's gym and feeling like you're at home. For the second time this season there was huge BU fan support for a road game. When we were out west playing at UBC there was an awesome group of Bishop's supporters that made their presence felt, and were easily louder than the UBC crowd.
One of Blair Shier's shots of the BU crowd in Vancouver
On Friday night at Ottawa U it felt like a home game, the stands opposite the benches were full - and they were all wearing purple (with the exception of one wearing maroon who shall remain nameless). I couldn't even tell you if there were any Ottawa fans, but if there were, they were completely drowned out by the always enthusiastic Gaiters crowd.
Because there was such a good turnout, we felt we should make the game as exciting as possible, and waited until the final 30 seconds to take the lead, just to build up as much suspense as we could. All the guys on the team really appreciate all the alumni, family, friends, and fans that come out to the games, it really does make a difference.
Although we had 2 good wins on the court, the biggest victories of the weekend were at the McLean's house. Bryan and Cathy were nice enough to have us over to their place before the game against Toronto on Saturday, which happened to have a pool table in the basement. Rather than relax and maybe get a quick nap in before the game as planned, Matt and I had to play pool all afternoon because we went on a huge winning streak. I wouldn't call myself a good pool player by any means, but I like to think I make up for my shortcomings by being great at selecting teammates. However, the shot of the day did go to Rudy for his clutch late game performance in an upset victory.
This weekend we're heading down to Vermont to play Lyndon State in our last preseason matchup before starting league play against UQAM.
October 25
Last Saturday the current Gaiters took on some alumni in a scrimmage at Bishop's. The alumni took an early lead in the game thanks to some hot shooting, a stifling 2-3 zone, and a big dunk from Phil Miguel. The alums probably could have used a few more bodies, and as the second half went on the current Gaiters took advantage to take control of the game.
The game was lots of fun, and so was getting a chance to get to know some of the past Gaiters afterwards and hearing some great stories. Hopefully this will become a tradition that continues to grow every year, and I'm also very much looking forward to ensuring this is the last time the "current Gaiters" win this game.
We've got a rematch with Ottawa this weekend in their gym, then another tough one against Toronto the following night. Hopefully we'll come out with some good news.
October 5
It's Friday morning here in Victoria, and we're just about to head out to Vancouver for our second game of the trip against UBC. I know Rod gives you guys the game recaps, so I'll just fill you in on some of the highlights off the court so far.
-Running into Will Sasso (of MadTV fame) in the Vancouver airport.
-The ferry ride from Vancouver to Victoria was a pretty cool experience initially with great sights, then towards the end of the ride it turned into a whale watching excursion, where we saw lots of Orca whales. The ferry ride also included the deep discussion of "Would you jump off this ferry right now for 1 million dollars?"
-Once we arrived at the hotel in Victoria the team went for a jog to loosen up after traveling all day. It was a great way to see a lot of the city around us, and the sun was setting over the water which made for some memorable sights.
Had a good win last night against UVic, hopefully we'll have more good news to report before the end of the trip,
Tim
September 25
With lots of team work, and many piggy-backs, everyone was able to make it to the top with plenty of time to spare. (20 seconds apparently)
Looking forward to our first CIS game this Friday night against Ottawa U in Drummondville,
Tim
Way to beat the buzzer Gaiters... Is this a preview of a season filled with nail biters?!?
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