Season Opening

After a good 7 weeks of practice and practice games, we have finally started the official season. We played our first game on Saturday, game two of the AWBL triple header in the Mollardgasse, our home gym. Here is a rundown of the big day:

The first game was a thriller between the Klosterneuberg Duchess and Wels. After holding a four point lead for most of the game, Wels let the game slip away in overtime. Both teams looked strong, especially K-Berg, which played overtime with two if its starters on the bench, including last years MVP. Wels definitely had some BIG players and, we surprised to find out, are coached by and American. sidenote: while looking up train tickets from Vienna to Wels, I learned that Wels literally translates to "catfish" in German. Weird.

Our game was the second of the evening. Each player was told to bring 10 fans. The turnout was great and the gym was full. The team we played never really gave us a run for the money. We scored the first 8 points and were up by more than 20 for 80 percent of the game. Check out the website for the actual numbers and scores. http://www.uk-flames.org/. Vienna 87, our opponent that night, was a very young team and also had players that had spent training camp with our team before deciding to play in the cross-town club. Every one of our players had the chance to play, and all those that did scored. We had a great time engaging the crowd in our game and having fun while coasting to the victory. I finished with a game high 23, while Osier had 22, despite only making one field goal. (Not really, but she did have about 15 free throws.)

The nightcap game was even less thrilling than ours, as reigning champions Flying Foxes Post dominated the team from Graz. We didn't even stay until the end of the game. Post, coincidentally, will be our next matchup, as we travel across town to their gym next Sunday. The support for our clubs was amazing, and there were even some TV cameras present, as our game will be aired on local Vienna TV within the next few days.

I also have a friend currently staying with us until tomorrow evening. She attended our game and (what a good sport) wore her Dirndl while doing so. She had come from Oktoberfest...but if you don't know what a Dirndl is, please google it. Tonights plan is to get schnitzel after practice, something I'm sure I will make every visitor to Vienna do. Recently, we have also been obsessed with Kebaps. Sooooooo gooooood! And cheap! Lastly, postcards should be going out this week, so if I don't have your (new) address, please send it to me and I will send something your way...eventually! Word. I will leave you with this link to the most amazing German song...enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7mGrPJvYhw

If you have facebook, check out more pictures from our season opening!