"They were pretty good huh?"

Staying with the theme of basketball yet again, while partaking in some decent open gyms during the week I met a couple locals who know a bit about the Montpellier basketball scene. Where to go at what times to find games, good courts, bad courts, etc. One of them, we will call him J for privacy sake, said that he knows of a good open gym that takes place in Nimes every Monday night. OK, I’m interested I was thinking to myself…why not check it out? Its not like I have too many options here as handball and soccer reign supreme in France. So I went along with him that Monday night as we rode the train, a 25 minute ride from Montpellier, to Nimes around 7pm. After getting off the train it was about a 15 minute walk to get to the gym…a little annoying but I really wanted to play so I stuck with it. We got to them gym around 745pm and I got changed and started stretching before the games began. The gym wasn’t very nice but it was indoors and was in decent shape, except for that it looked as if construction had stopped halfway through as the walls were consisted of drywall and the ceiling had a few spots left unfinished. As some players started warming up and shooting around before the first scrimmage I was trying to judge the skill level around me but was having a difficult time because it didn’t seem as if they were being serious…it seemed as if they were just joking around and throwing up shots. I should have taken this as a sign of what was to come! From the beginning of the first game it was like something out of a Will Ferrel movie with passes being thrown off of the backboard and over the backboard and 5 feet over or behind players outstretched hands. I felt as if I was playing with a very bad middle school team…this was NOT good at all! At this point I needed to get the game over with as soon as possible in order to get myself off of this court at all costs so I began taking the ball out of bounds and not passing to any of my “talented” teammates, but instead just going 1 on 5 against the other team to try and get this hellish game over with. The French did not like this coaching decision one bit…they are apparently all about passing and moving, less dribbling, and overall team ball. They also seem to be into countless turnovers, terrible offenses, and what I like to call “what the fuck?!” passes….excuse my French. As I began to disregard my 4 other teammates and take the opposing team on solo players from the sideline and my own team began yelling at me in French to “Pass the ball Huston! Pass the ball! Run the offense!” At one point thy even paused the game to explain to me how we were going to win by passing the ball to my other teammates…and this is when it gets good. At this point I was getting to the point of not caring what they were saying to me, but I obliged their ardent requests to “pass the ball”. The next three or four plays down the court I gave up the ball and just as I had expected this resulted in the next pass resulting in a turnover credited to my team. And just to make my point of view on this situation questionless, after each turnover I would turn to the people on the sideline who had been so adamant about me giving up the ball and give them a look that can only be described if you see it. But lets just say that it got my point across. I then preceded to sub myself out of the game, do some ball handling drills on the side of the court and then change back into my street clothes before leaving to catch the next train back to Montpellier. As J and I were heading out of the gym on the way to the train station he says to me…”Soo what did you think about the team? They were pretty good huh? We could probably beat a few American teams right?” You do not know how much restraint it took for me to not be honest with him and just destroy his confidence after I had witnessed and partaken in that travesty just moments earlier. But I took the high road and responded with…”Yeah sure man! You guys are pretty good…you could probably beat a few teams from back home! Honestly, have you ever heard of a team called Cal Tech…?”