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| Thunderstruck Archive; from the old skool badaball site | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jun 7 2007, 12:17 PM (1,683 Views) | |
| Bada Bing | Jun 7 2007, 12:17 PM Post #1 |
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El Crack
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Thunderstruck Archives From your man Swiss..... |
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EuroLeague Women because women's basketball is the most important thing in life after family and good health! | |
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| Bada Bing | Jun 7 2007, 12:19 PM Post #2 |
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El Crack
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02 DECEMBER WHAT WERE MY PREDICTIONS WERE GOING INTO THIS SEASON? After the heartbraking loss to our main rivals down in deepest, darkest Berkshire in the playoffs. I thought this season would deffo be another promising season, Alfredo (rightful league MVP) re-signed, Pat, James, Rani and Steve Vear were back and we had introduced Hank Rivers, Janis Ivanovskis and Ryan Marrast from U.S and Canada, all who had corking stats in their respective colleges, so I think it was safe to say that we would be challenging for honours. Everyone was upbeat about the new season when the summer Worthing Carnival with a Thunder float was done. Open top bus, the core of our supporters and the freedom to walk freely on Worthing's dangerous roads!! Is that Backrow Swiss driving with the dicky-bow tie? Looking at the fixtures before the season started gave the impression of shock on my face as we'd be facing Manchester Magic on October 7th and Tees Valley away on a sunday - wierd planning there but what ya gonna do? HOW ARE WE DOING AT THE MOMENT? At the time of typing this, we are 6-1 and sitting top of EBL division 1 with our only defeat at the hands of the Reading Rockets at the not upto EBL standard Loddon Valley!! The wins have been mainly big ones, beating London Leopards by 45 points, Reading in the BBL trophy by 11 and nailing Sheffield and PAWS Capitals on a cross by 18 being the main highlights. We have lost to BBL outfit Guildford Heat in the BBL Trophy and Manchester Magic in the National Trophy, (Basketball's Carling Cup). I'm reasonably satisfied with our team's start and I think it can only get better, Alfredo (should be last season's MVP) is again, outstanding, Hank is coming into his own and settling in, Janis is our main threat inside along with Pat who as ever is repping East/West Worthing "EAST WORTHING, WEST WORTHING" and James, our captain who Thunder are proud of as another local is holding a starting place and playing with great heart and pride, I would of done something like that on a Sussex league team (but I'm rubbish so I can't). Ryan is also getting into his own now that he has more minutes under his belt and Ciaran, Dan and Dan "Cameo" Shotton are playing great minutes for us. Also at the time of writing, we have lost Steve "Million Dollar Man" Vear, who went to Reading for Money and will probably leave Reading at the end of this season to scam another team - lol, joking Steve.. We also lost Rod Wellington who couldn't commit to us due to working in Guildford and eventhough he was very sad to leave (I read the e-mail) he's happy at the Heat and I'm happy that he's in Guildford and as always the great guys at the Heat are treating him as well as we did!! BACK ROW ON TOUR! This season, The Back Row chops and changes it's "members". Me and Adam (The Back Row on most message boards) will always be there but others seem to come and go. Always great to have new fans come up and cheer for us, I've met so many random people this season who come onto the hollowed grounds of the back row. Sam H, keep your support going mate!! Away from home, still enjoying it as ever, Reading (hello to the Sainsbury's) Manchester (sort out your stewards, I can't believe they said we wern't allowed to stand up last time), West Herts, Kent, Solent and other places that I can't think of for this season, thanks for making us feel welcome and for putting up with us. We are nice people really!! Special thanks to West Herts mangement for inviting us some after game food, nice touch Ang. As for the rest of the venues that I haven't visited yet this season, Coventry, Kings Lynn, London Leopards, Northampton etc, we look forward to visiting you. There will be a few games I will visit when Thunder aren't playing... Solent and Reading will be the main teams I'll watch as a neutral and I will go and take in a Guildford Heat game as well to show good faith as they've done for us. PREDICTIONS! I'm confident, that's what I will say. We have a good chance for sure but I'll let the players do the talking there and speak to y'all very soon. |
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| Bada Bing | Jun 7 2007, 12:22 PM Post #3 |
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El Crack
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06 DECEMBER BORED AT WORK This blog is totally out of boredom as work is going slowly. Let me introduce Thunderstruck for you. It's a "whenever I feel like it" diary on my team, the current league champions in the EBL - Worthing Thunder and also keeping tabs on some of the other teams in the EBL in the southern counties so I WILL TRY to keep in touch with Solent Stars and Reading Rockets as much as I can. Sunday (3rd Dec 06) I did manage to take in a Reading game which was actually against Solent so I'll chat about but that's in due course. Last Saturday saw the return of our old friends from Plymouth. Penny, Shammy Samuels, Nickie Tombs and Tommy were in high voice supporting the Raiders as ever when they visited the hollowed grounds of the Thunder dome, nice crowd of 430 people, may not be much but they were 430 noisy people. It showed that top EBL teams can compete with the top BBL teams at the moment with 3rd place in the BBL, Plymouth just edging us out by 5 - settled by free throws but still a great game to watch. Janis Ivanovskis killed it with 35 points, 5 assists and 15 rebounds and led all scorers with Alfredo Ott and Cat Beasley both scoring 24 for us and Raiders respectively. Andrew Lasker continues to impress with 21 points while big Pat Bates dropped 16, mostly from outside as Carton Aaron refused to play D outside the key (wuss! ha-ha) Main highlights in the game was a first quarter dunk fest by Thunder, two dunks from Janis and one from Alfredo. One of Janis dunks, a massive throw down on the BBL player of the month Carlton for an, and one and the back row to nearly fall off a few rows due to it - HHHAAUGE! Raiders didn't provide many highlights, even Gary Stronach kept himself quiet as he's usually jumping around and moaning like Jeff Jones, can't wait to see him bouncing like a madman again, what great chants you can do for it! We've lost two key players but hopefully if we add to our squad during Christmas, we will have a great chance of repeating our league win. On Sunday, I took a trip from Sussex to Berkshire with the lady to watch Reading Rockets face off with Solent Stars (sitting next to three ladies with drums, not a good plan, I felt like I had a hangover afterwards). Was asked afterwards if Worthing wanted drums for our games, not sure who he was but it was kindly rejected! The game also saw the hyped and controversial debut of Steve Vear from us, but was given a nice ovation from the Rockets crowd which was nice. The game itself was close for a bit, then Solent pulled away in the 1st with Americans, Antonio Bright and EBL’s leading scorer Earl Moore mainly doing the damage but once Reading got the lead, they never looked back and coasted it, leading to a big highlight play with Steve Vear chucking the rock to Ryan for a reverse and 1 style dunk. BOOOOM! Solent though stole the highlight reel with both involving Antonio. First flushing in the face of David “Shaggy” Watts and then without a doubt the play of the game, blocking a highlight Ryan Williams dunk on a breakaway and sending the ball into the first row of seats!! The ball was removed from its seat though later on in the game. Reading though despite that, were always in control and won in style. Solent’s Liam Mitchell got some court time in that game which was nice to see. Liam is a product of ex Thunder and Bears player Danny Hildreth at Angmering for the juniors and was always a promising player, good to see him competing at National level. Always great to see the Reading fans who are always so welcoming and easy to talk to, despite Worthing and Reading being close rivals and now with Steve over there, probably a little heated, I will always respect the great people who support Reading Rockets – keep your support going!!!! I guess I should get back to work now, later peeps! |
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| Bada Bing | Jun 7 2007, 12:22 PM Post #4 |
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El Crack
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21 DECEMBER THE JOHN OF ALL JOHN'S............ To explain what I actually mean by this is a long story and I can't be bothered to actually explain it but on January 7th, it will be shown all over the National Indoor Arena in Brummy (Birmingham for normals) and for hopefully the first time in Worthing Thunder's history we can say we have added the National Cup to our CV of trophies. Thunder, since losing Steve Vear have been nothing short of unstoppable. Many people were telling us that London Capitals would give us a huge test in the semi final but we simply brushed them aside and we also took BBL table toppers Plymouth Raiders to the limit with them only winning by five points on free throws in the last 30 seconds or so, we have also despatched of Solent, West Herts twice and Northampton and with hopefully new additions maybe being added during the season, things are looking very hunky dory on the south coast. A starting five of James Brame, Alfredo Ott, Ryan Marrast, Janis Ivanovskis and Pat Bates is a slower but a very consistant starting five and in my view, we have shown more detirmination then we actually won the league crown in march of 2006. In defence we have been strong under the basket, not letting anything get through. Our permimeter D is still sketchy but has shown improvement since I last saw them against Capitals. On the offensive we haven't been as quick and run and gun as last season, but settling for the more slower plays and being able to put the ball inside more for the big guys to finish. On January 7th we play league favouites Manchester Magic who have already beaten us this season in a game that was nip and tuck all the way through with Magic winning 87-84, close game - trust me. Manchester have as I've said already despatched us, Reading twice and London Capitals with only one loss in all competitions so far this season and that came by Sheffield Arrows by 1 point so to say Thunder have a stern test is an understatement. but one point that might play a factor is that this is Manchester's first final and final nerves might play a part for the team. However, with ex Thunder scorer Steven Gayle along with solid Amercians Matt Miller and John Cagianello in the squad along with usual suspects Matt Hogarth and Andy Thompson. Magic will without a doubt, fancy their chances. The player we will be looking out for will be Steve Gayle who has graced us for years and is now back home in Manchester and is proving to be a key player on their squad. It'll be nice to see Steve again and let's just hope he isn't going to be a figure in the final!! (fingers crossed) Thunder are very confident going into the final, we play the night before against Solent Stars at the Dome and then it's a nice 6am start and ready to leave at around 7am to Birmingham so the players will be tired but no doubt up for the task at hand. Alfredo and Janis are our most in form players at the moment with the others playing equally as good. We've had a smooth passage to the final it has to be said, Magic have as well with Reading giving them a fright but without upsetting too many readers here, it's safe to say that these are the best two teams in the EBL on paper at the moment and this is a fair reflection at the moment. I'll be checking back soon, in the meantime, hope all you badaball readers have a great christmas and a peaceful new year!! |
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| Bada Bing | Jun 7 2007, 12:47 PM Post #5 |
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El Crack
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09 JANUARY THUNDER + N.I.A. = HEARTBREAK If I'm right on my history and it normally isn't always right, this is Worthing Thunder's great record at the NIA.. 03' - Teesside - up by as many as 15 in the third and lose by 6 I think 06' - Reading - up by 15 in the third and 10 in the fourth and lose by 4 07' - Manchester - up by 13 in the fourth and lose by 5 Our record in Birmingham's main arena.... 0-3 In fact, Thunder's big arena record (Wembley, Sheffield Arena, Brighton Centre and N.I.A.) ... 0-7 Our only final win came at a university campus where Worcester Wolves (then playing in div 2) play and you can only hold about 500 people there probably so hardly a "big" arena but it was a final I guess.. I'm not annoyed but just upset at the fact that yesterday, 7/1/07, we had Manchester Magic beat, I mean we were 13 points up in the first minute of the fourth quarter and we were loving it..... The first three quarters we were just about edging it and we had ALL of Magic's big men in foul trouble, Craven 4 fouls from the third q, Thompson I think was the one that fouled out after being on 4 since the beginning of the third and another of there bigs was on 4 fouls since the third but we didn't take advantage of that. Magic freely shot threes in the second half of the game and drained half of them and the ones they hit came when it was needed and they were as open as a retail shop on a cold monday afternoon. I myself was so surprised to see deadly scoring American John Cagianello so open so many times and did he connect on those occasions - he sure as fire did. The reason of why Pat Bates was kept on when he wasn't having his best game and why Marcus didn't get enough court time was an odd one as foul trouble had nothing to do with it. Magic's 10-0 run I think in the fourth, why wasn't a time out called in between that? Why did Chicken freeze then, It was odd. Hats off to everyone involved with Manchester Magic, you battled hard and got your rewards, it shouldn't of happened but you did it and well done. I hope everyone's voices are cleared by the 20th when we come down to you next...This will be a huge match! The good things and players to take out of sunday.. Ryan Marrast, was ballin' in the first quarter, everything he shot, dropped, hustled on the floor too, unfortunate that he didn't get the ball much in the second half of play, another question asked there. James Brame, Thunder through and through and played all 40 minutes yesterday with heart, commitment and you could tell he wanted this cup! Drove to the hoop freely as Magic's big's wern't doing much but fouling - because of James..Legend!!!! Marcus Avant, he's the type of player who from early impressions just does the little things. If you want him to score, he'll do that, block, he'll sure as heck do that (Steve Gayle now knows it) but when I mean little things, I mean hustle, putting off the player he's marking and passion. He loves and thrives off the crowd's reaction. Very good replacement if not a better one than Hank. Why he was taken off though when he was playing so well in the 4th is beyond me, he was on 3 fouls if I'm not mistaken and was full of energy. Marvin Addy, sure Steve Gayle top scored but if it wasn't for Steve turning it over and being forced into wild shots by Marv, he would have had 30 maybe 40 points to his name. Fantastic D from another Thunder legend and let's hope he does the same thing in two weeks again. Thunder's third quarter was an absolute joy to watch, it was fantastic, we were making Magic turn it over, we nailed the shots we wanted and we connected well from the line, everything you needed from a quarter. Shame a good 30 minutes was wasted on a nightmare final 10 minutes. That's about it really but a quick note about Steve Gayle, a true legend for coming over to the Worthing fans whilst Magic were celebrating with their own fans and applauding our effort and support and having a quick joke with us afterwards. This is one ex Worthing player who truely misses everyone on the south coast and it's such a shame that we didn't get him back but he's enjoying his basketball at the Magic and that's the main thing. We look forward to seeing him in two weeks also. Brian Dux BBL Cup final was good to watch as well, glad that Guildford won it and that Brian Dux got MVP, Dux is clearly too good for the BBL and Heat are lucky to have him. Again, well done to all at the Guildford Heat!!!! As always, the entertainment was alright, Foxy, Scorcher and the fine Rockettes were good but AND1 UK were a complete and utter joke, they took on school kids and at times, the kids were scoring at will. Once AND1 scored the kids had to leave the court. No-one in the crowd seemed to care what they were doing!! I hope they read this and know that they are all mugs! Well I got some weight off my weak shoulders now and we can look to next week's home game |
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EuroLeague Women because women's basketball is the most important thing in life after family and good health! | |
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| Bada Bing | Jun 7 2007, 12:48 PM Post #6 |
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El Crack
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16 JANUARY THE SEASON SO FAR...FROM A FAN'S VIEW I think it's safe to say that this is the most basketball I have seen so far this season and it's all good. Love visiting old grounds and always is great to catch up with the people we know from other teams and so far this season, this has been the most fun. The basketball has been top class, the fans have been great and loud and it's a pure joy to look forward to basketball at home and away with Thunder.  We're well known with Oxford service station now - greatness. Worthing Thunder are currently joint second with Manchester Magic and league leaders Reading Rockets and so far have had a good start for me. We have a game in hand over Reading as they've played one game more than us but I think it's safe to say that the title this season will probably be decided between us, Magic and Rockets but Capitals and even Sheffield might have something to say about that. We beat West Herts on saturday night (13/1/07) in a high scoring game 123 - 111. Alfredo drilling 8 three's on his way to 40 points and we have a date with Manchester Magic next saturday, 2nd vs 2nd - WHO'S BASHING!! The thing also is that we face Manchester at home in the final league game of the season - should be interesting watching that, I can probably predict a huge bumper crowd for that. Also worth noting that Reading Rockets sold out tickets for there game against London Capitals on the same night as Thunder and West Herts. I feel that Reading don't get a big enough crowd to their games which is a shame because the support is there, they have a big enough promotional field to work from so when told that they won and won in style and that they had a bumper crowd, I smiled as crowds in the EBL seem to be lacking a bit, with the exception of Worthing, Manchester and West Herts from what I can remember. Our crowds seem to be constantly rising but I can't confirm that. The support is for sure getting louder though. Back to Reading and to finish, I hope the numbers continue to pile up and make sure you fill Loddon Valley for when Manchester face you! I would love a Worthing vs Reading final for good reason - the people that know me will know why, and also for revenge over your playoff win. We ain't forgotten that!!  Sunday I took a break from the EBL and made my way to Guildford to watch Heat play bottom side Worcester Wolves and as only I can do it, managed to get lost upon my arrival to Guildford, I personally hate three lanes and instead of going in the middle lane as planned, I drove into the left hand lane to go to a road which led to a deserted business park but I found out that was actually a short cut and it took about five minutes from my journey and whilst getting lost, I stumbled across a nice shortcut - Niiiice.. So myself and the missus along with family sat down in the arena (back row of course - how else) when Scorcher came up and the little bugger of a man/woman/it nicked my hat and ran to the MC's table where a guy was waiting for me telling me "Scorcher wants you to do the half way line shot" Oh great I thought so i accepted it had a chat with the MC who, quickly thanked Worthing Thunder for their support in the BBL Cup and off I went but before I went I went up to Scorcher and extended my hand to him, as he went to shake my hand I old schooled him and walked off with a little victory there. Supporters club loved it anyway! My shot in case you wanted to know was all net........but the wrong side of it! Least I came closer than the other guy who was a good bloke to chat to. The game I thought would be a blowout but Wolves came to play, Andy Harper. Guildford I think shaded it but just. I think winning the cup got the players on such a high that they underestimated Wolves a bit, hey it happens guys. We comfortably beat Leopards a week after they won the National Cup and it was there first game at home since winning it. Also we had a terrible first half of basketball when we played Coventry a week after we were crowned league champions - just one of those things. I thought Brian Dux, Chad McKnight and Mike Martin were quiet, Dux got most of his points in the final quarter, including that now trademark NBA three but I was so surprised that Jon May got hardly a sniff today as I thought Dux was just not getting it done for me. Didn't even know Mike Martin was on court till the fourth when he came to life slowly but surely. Chad started brightly but faded away and got fouled out in the end but I thought the ref's were very harsh on him to be honest. Heat's standout players were Daniel Gilbert, clearly MVP for today and Plymouth old boy Dean Williams. Whoever said that Dean makes Guildford tick is correct in my view, did the little things perfectly, help D, one on one D, drive to the lane and kick out, cut. Great performance and second in line for MVP for today. For Wolves, they were unlucky after such a promising start. Andy Harper was stroking the ball for triples each time he touched it and mainly for the first quarter, Worcester were having their way inside. Every time Wolves were putting the ball in the post, you might as well counted two points. Sergio Rodriguez I thought was a utter waste and that's me being nice. First period he showed some nice cuts inside but after the first came his own personal nightmare show. Solomon (shocked to say this was the first time I've seen him play) played with his heart on his sleeve and went at the Heat, went inside, led the post play scoring and no temper that I've been told he sometimes can be famous for, I thought he was a standout along with Tom Perkes who quietly top scored for Worcester but had a nice quick release once given the ball and stroked it sweetly. Andy Harper as mentioned was a gun but once known about his exploits from long range, was guarded heavily and resorted to regular chuck ups - that sounds very familar. Overall after this performance I think Worcester are improving and today I saw a BBL team in the Wolves, not an EBL side that most people think (that was me included) eventhough they lost, they can hold their heads high! Also why no Worcester supporters??? If there were, where was the noise??? Great crowd, great to see Scorcher getting the crowd involved and the fans responding!! Fans were loud, loved the way fans from every side of the freezing furnace were starting chants, wonder why Worthing can't do that?? Ah well, were still loud with it anyway. Nice to meet some new faces. JimW and Greaper, Greaper it has been a long time coming, you must pop over to the back row next time your in Worthing. Jim, thanks for coming over, should of introduced you to the Reading Rockets family I was with, including missus, hopefully next time. Ah well, Manchester next week and it's a certain Thunder fan's birthday the day after - Alcohol as only the back row can do! |
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| Bada Bing | Jun 7 2007, 12:49 PM Post #7 |
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El Crack
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18 JANUARY AWAY GAME BUILD UP I think I speak for most people that read this site when I tell you that when a big game is coming up, you can't think of anything else bar the game. Whether it's a saturday or a sunday or even if your a BBL nut, a friday, you can't think of anything else but the big game. Your work just isn't important (like it ever was) and your social life even goes away for the week because of it. If we'd of won the National Cup two weeks ago this would of been a big game for Manchester to get revenge if you will, whilst improving there league position, but it's us that want to get revenge for the National Cup robbery that occured two weeks ago instead. This is a crucial game at you could say near the half way mark as both us and Magic are joint second but us with a game in hand and two games in hand on league leaders Reading and a loss would not severely but just dent each team's hold on the leaders - I guess we have less to lose as we have a game in hand on Manchester but still... Away days with Thunder are what being a Thunder fan really is all about, interacting with the players, visiting and raising hell at the service station but not like a Reebok classic, Carbrini hoodie wearing chav destroying the place and getting an ASBO for it type of raising hell. Having a laugh on the minibus or coach, or for this saturday's game a mini coach - whatever that is.  Using your bluetooth phone to send files to other fans and even the players and annoying the driver by yelling out at random times "Are we there yet, are we there yet". Then when you arrive at the game, you have a nice pint whilst chatting about who you think's gonna play well and then seeing that the opposition fans have arrived and you speak to them for a bit. Then you finish your pint, have a slash, get a pack of crisps then your ready to sit down and enjoy the game and let everyone know that your an away team fan by chanting like crazy until the end, then having another pint in the bar to either celebrate or drown the ol' sorrows then it's off home for about a 4 hour drive home. We will be heading to Manchester for the second time this season with all these things to do and it's those things that make you look forward to away trips with the added bonus of a game as well but the intraction and general fun you have before the game and on the way to it is what makes an away game day so good, and espcially as we're playing Manchester, your always certain of a good game as Manchester are a well coached and well run team playing in what I think is the best arena in the EBL, the Amaechi Basketball Centre (ABC) and Magic provide some great fans who always get behind their team and are generally nice. One problem that Thunder's fans, especially the "back row" have is the stewards. From telling us to stop shouting when Magic are shooting free throws to telling us we're not allowed to stand up and chant for the final two minutes of a close game against them earlier in the season, the stewards I feel always seem to have some sort of problem with us. Is cool as it is to have a bad rep (oh yes, we're proud), the problem we have with the stewards is a pointless one I feel. Let's hope it's the last time I say these things about the stewards and they just leave us alone. I guess I'll now have to let you readers know what happens on saturday so I'll keep you posted, I write match reports for the Thunder match day programme so I might add that in there too - see how arsed I can be. Laters... |
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| JohnSwissH | Jun 7 2007, 01:16 PM Post #8 |
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Voice of TalkBasket
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Sweeet! Cheers Paul. |
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WWW.TALKBASKET.NET (LISTEN TO THE TALKBASKET PODCAST) | |
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| Bada Bing | Jun 7 2007, 06:55 PM Post #9 |
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El Crack
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25 JANUARY DIARY OF REVENGE AND PAYBACK Before I start, this is NOT a jab at Manchester Magic. The Magic team, staff and fans are just like us at Worthing, fun loving, easy to get on with and passionate about what they do and follow. Saturday's 100-93 victory though was payback over the National Cup defeat they handed out to us nearly three weeks ago.. I'll include my match report which gets put on the Worthing Thunder programme and other bits and bobs about the day, including fellow Worthing fan, Curtis wanting to open up a nearby brothel and me and him co-owning it. I woke up at around 7am ready to open up my music shop at 9am (yes i worked before the trip, I'm hardcore) and really couldn't think of anything else bar Manchester but whilst I was there still had alot of custom and time went quickly because of that and at 11.15, I left things to co-director - my dad. I had got my things ready for the north, Thunder jersey, flags etc and I was ready to go and pick fellow Thunder fan and hopefully if he continues what he's doing player, Luke and we headed for the Thunderdome where our mini coach was waiting for us. Now when Dave Marshall, (best commentator in the EBL, don't believe him just ask him) said that the bus was leaving at 1pm, I was a little confused as to why so late leaving, we usually leave just before 12 but the reason was simple, instead of two stops, just one and Dave an extra gear to go into. So with a six gear mini coach and the one stop to Oxford ahead. The small number of Thunder fans headed to Magic country, we only had about 15 fans with us which is quite small for us and for such a big fixture I thought it was quite a surprise. We meet the players and Thunder's other bus driver and fellow Liverpool fan Marcel come in so we meet up with them, got my KFC and tryed to watch the Liverpool vs Chelsea highlights but it never came on but a lovely 2-0 win gave the impression that today was gonna be a good day. We left there at around 3 I think and continued on to what we thought was our last stop but our weak bladdered starting centre Pat, decides that he really needs to bleed the lizard which is slang for needing a piss and we stop for about five minutes at some obscure location and leave again and after trading some phone calls with the old man at the shop and playing around on a mates PSP, we had arrived at the Ameachi Basketball Centre at about ten to 6. Now here, the budweiser is available on tap (SCORE!!) and the Celtics were hosting the Kings on the box - Mancs do know how to live. Now all they need to do is burn down Old Trafford and they'd be on easy streak, wouldn't they Duncan?? A few more pints and I walked across Thunder's best mates (in the wrong way), the stewards who shook our hands, welcomed us and told us, try not to be too loud tonight eh? Welcomed by a polite, i'll think about it! Nice change from the usual treatment we get but I liked it. The game started and it was close throughout but mid way through the second period and a time out called by Thunder, a text comes through from the lady saying that Rockets had lost in Sheffield and that she was not happy but once I told Rosemary about this, her and pretty much every Thunder fan were trying to get our team managers attention and once I told him the score and I had to shout it, every Magic fan heard this as well and it was on! Everyone on our side and half of Magic's fans knew the score and this game just had an incentive thrown into it, win and you'll be the only team on one loss and you have the advantage no matter what the table says. Now this game was good, so good that I'm gonna show you my match report... "Manchester Magic 93 - 100 Worthing Thunder ( AOT ) Thunder started the three road games in the league with a tough challenge of National Cup winners Manchester Magic and without James Brame in the line up, and Danny and Ciaran nursing knocks, it was a nervy prospect ahead to see what would happen - what did happen was probably the best basketball game this season and every person in the arena was pumped. A slow start, like the cup final, this was a slow affair to start with both teams playing rusty to start but once Magic scored the first bucket, both teams automatically found their rhythm. Steve Gayle, playing against his old club was struggling at first but once his range started leading Manchester's charge often throughout. Worthing's main threats in the first quarter were Janis and Ryan who both had top games and in that first quarter, started off a small run which saw Thunder lead but had that lead clawed back and Thunder ended the first quarter leading 17-14. This run though continued for Thunder as they lead 19-14 and good defence midway through saw Thunder's lead grow from 5 to 10 points off some basic but very effective team play which left Magic shook, Janis and Dan Midgley being the main finishers in that run. Dan Shotton came on to save the big men for the last quarters and did a great job on both ends of the floor and Alfredo was starting to slowly pick up the gears but mainly from the line causing Manchester to sit a few of there players a bit quicker than they hoped. Magic though hung around and started draining some long two's to cut Thunder's lead back and it was cut even further when Steve Gayle hit a three to cut the lead back to three at half time, 43-40. The third quarter of play was nip and tuck throughout the ten minutes of it, often buckets were being traded and the home crowd got more into it. Thunder, again stuck to the fantastic team basketball of the second period and got their rewards with some suberb passing by Alfredo leading to buckets by Ryan, Dan M and Janis. Matt Miller, who had a quiet game by his standards, started to get a little involved with the action and ended up racking a consistant stat line. Steve Gayle again was heavily involved and Geri Major hit another buzzer beating three as a tense fourth quarter loomed for both sides. A fourth quarter had deja vu written on it when Thunder who had played great team basketball throughout the 4th, let it slip in the final 4 minutes and let Magic come back into it. Led by Matt Miller, Manchester went on a vital 10-0 run which also saw Steve Gayle get successive and one's. All tied at 82 with 20 seconds left, Thunder hold for the last shot when a turnover forced by Manchester sees Steve Gayle and Matt Miller run the floor with Danny the only player back and with 0.8 seconds left in normal time draws probably the most important charge he'll ever make and the game went to overtime. Once in OT, Magic scored first to lead but an Alfredo four point play settled the players and travelling fans nerves and from then, Thunder were in control and the BIG win was capped off by Danny Hildreth zooming past Matt Miller for an easy lay up. Thunder Ivanovskis 31 (10 rebounds) Ott 20 (4 assists) Marrast 17 Avant 11 Bates 9 Midgley 8 Burns, Hildreth 2 Magic Gayle 32 Cagianello 18 Miller, Thompson 12 Mackay 6 Smith 5 Hastings 4 Major 3 Gill 1 " Danny Hildreth and Janis were the main names mentioned in the bar where some fans were just happy and one was relieved, guess which one she was? Haha. We left at about half 10 and stopped as we always do at the nearby Maccie D's but these workers are complete mugs who spent more time saying "WHAT" than getting us our food, Stone Cold Steve Austin wannabes. After a near 50 minute wait between 25 odd people we left and headed home, traded some calls to the Reading fans and one fan, Luke got nicely met up with a young Reading fan, Holly (named and shamed haha) and they were talking for a few hours and it got my lady a little upset about it, haha. No reason why either. After all the phonecalls and texts. I ceased the contact at about 1 when Kirsty went to sleep and my phone died on me. We arrived at Oxford just before half 1 and Russell or porn star as we call him ordered some food but due to a mistake or something, got two meals for one price so he had a meal for two people, Niiiice. For no reason I bullyed Luke a bit and he gave some mouth back and we were off again, next stop home. The talk of opening and joking about a brothel continued and me and Curtis were talking about the service we would offer and where it would be run etc. I'm not gonna talk about it on here, you don't wanna know.. After dropping some people home, I had arrived home at 3:40am and headed for the sack and that was my great day.. A 2-0 win for Liverpool, 100-93 win over Magic, we go top of the table and we get an extra meal in Oxford...Pukka!! |
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| Bada Bing | Jun 7 2007, 06:55 PM Post #10 |
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El Crack
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22 FEBRUARY BASKETBALL & MONEY - NEVER A GOOD MIX Quite an important weekend for Thunder this weekend and I'm only making one out of the two games, what's wrong with me?? Look at the title and I ain't saying anything more, it's only Coventry and it isn't exactly Madison Square Garden is it? (Ed - don't tell the BBA that....) We play Reading on sunday and whoever wins this game, is pretty much controlling their own destiny of the title and I have never looked forward to a game more than I have than this one for this season, mind you since Vear walked, this game has been on every Thunder fan's mind anyway and to say we are up for this as fans is a huge understatement!! On the Reading side, it's been pretty quiet but I imagine the fans are quietly confident, as always a small yet noisy travelling support from the depths of Berkshire is expected and we look forward to welcoming them. Now the reason why Worthing's fans including myself mainly hate Reading Rockets. For goodness knows how long, I've been told that Reading Rockets were a perfect club with no faults, when I first visited Rivermead with Thunder, I thought good support, nice venue and what I thought from first glance solid management. As time goes by though, I've come to realise that they sure as hell are not. Dave Titmuss' underhand tactics at half time of the league game between us at the Thunderdome where he tipped off on Jon Woods's pushing off and travelling in the first half. Jon incredibly didn't push off or travel in the second half of play, despite admittedly doing it in the first half yet was called for two straight fouls that were complete bogus, said one word and got T'd up for it and from that got fouled out in the 3rd quarter. Of course Titmuss shouting at the ref's and kicking the chairs relentlessly went un-noticed. Then Titmuss, helped by Gary Johnson got Steve Vear this season in the most fiasco based way you could think, whilst still on contract with us and Vear, who secretly wasn't happy anyway walked and joined Reading. Then in the build up to this game and this is brilliance. Reading Rockets U18 have a final in Manchester on the same day as Rockets play us and they will miss Dan McKay, Danny Carter, I think Simon Kearney and assistant coach Matt Johnson as he's coaching them obviously. Now Gary Johnson who in case you didn't know is the general manager of Rockets, rung Worthing and EB to get the match put back due to lack of players and a coach when Reading have 8 available players for sunday and you are required seven players to kit. (cue laughter) Of course his appeal was turned down and as we can't change anymore dates anyway, we couldn't do anything anyway. James Brame, who is a key player for us has been out for over a month though and Janis, Danny, Ciaran, Ryan and Marcus aren't at 100% and they play solid minutes with us have all but the first player, played on anyway but if you can actually appeal to that, why didn't we?? hahaha. Even without the 3 juniors and Vear, Reading still pose a huge threat and will come to play and win on sunday so all Thunder fans that read this and I know one or two of you do, get behind your team and let's get the job done. Worthing should be at full strength though and with more than 300 Thunder fans cheering them on, the sixth man will be in force!!!!! Before all that though, I shall be taking in my second Guildford Heat game on friday when they take on Chester Jets. Now I won't lie, eventhough I'm supporting Heat on friday, I'm mainly going to see Chester's new signing, Louis McCollough play. He's appearently been tearing the BBL apart in his first few games so I'm looking forward to seeing how he plays. Even without Chad, who I think is now out for the rest of the season, Guildford should win this, looking forward to the game.. I really should take care of my bills and my money but you could say my love of basketball is huge!!!! |
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| Bada Bing | Jun 7 2007, 06:59 PM Post #11 |
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El Crack
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28 FEBRUARY STILL ON TOP OF THE WORLD!! As I said to most Thunder faithful sunday, "it's always good to get the win, but it is always just that little bit sweeter to beat Reading" - given with what has happened this season between us. Yet I did not feel any need to really rub it in or anything and wished Reading's lot all the best for the rest of the season and chatted about what had been a great game of basketball won by the better side. You couldn't ask for it fairer really, Reading had 8 players and ran them, Worthing had a full squad of 11 but like Reading ran an 8 man rotation as well with Shotton, Burns and Addy not getting minutes. Two key points of the victory, shutting down Rockets main threat, Ryan Williams. The "Rockets Faithful" dub him "Ryan air", well on sunday "Ryan air" never took off, Marcus Avant cancelled the flight and "Avant air" reigned supreme for the night leading all scorers with 30 points. Second point and it shocks me to write this but Dave Titmuss got OUT COACHED by the Chick meister himself and where Chicken played his normal 5 and rotating where he saw fit along with Mayes and Hicksy and bringing players at the right times and calling the right plays for James, Danny and Fredy to use while Titmuss (who looks like father christmas) kept his star players on the bench and when Worthing went on a fourth quarter run of 17-3, Ryan Williams was still keeping the bench warm and he had a big line up which allowed Thunder hit easily from mid range and behind the arc, cheers titty-muss. Reading can be proud though that their captain, Adam Kelly and American Steve Humphries had probably their games of the season and did the Reading team proud causing Worthing all sorts of problems early on but it was a great match to watch and it's a shame someone had to lose but with this win, we should win our second straight league crown but there is still basketball to be played so watch this space. Sunday saw the return of Steve Vear who was greeted with £5 notes being waved by the "Back Row" and chants of "Who needs Vear when we've got Brame" being sung with most the Worthing fans hearing the song, was told that Reading's fans didn't hear it, oh well maybe next time - haha. Steve arrived ten minutes before tip, sat right down with his head down for most of the game and him along with the whole Reading team didn't even enter the bar afterwards, looking at Steve during a few breaks in play saw a very clear picture that this once fan favourite in Worthing just did not look comfortable being in Worthing again, almost just wanting the game to end as soon as possible so he could leave. Guess what, sunday it happens all again and I'm predicting a much closer game up in Geordie land. Before that all happened I took advantage of a free friday to go up to Surrey to watch Guildford Heat take on Chester Jets and Louis McCollough. The game tipped off at 8.30 due to Chester arriving late as the M25 was a car park for about an hour and a half. Chad McKnight was keeping the crowd entertained with his sharp shooting from the bench whilst sitting down, then to really show off, he shot the ball blindfolded, yes BLINDFOLDED and made it, granted it took five or six attempts but still, impressive stuff. The game itself was a bore which Heat won thanks to top games from old Worthing boy Rod Wellington and Daniel Gilbert and the main attraction for me, Louis McCollough started hot scoring the first 6 Jets points but after that scored 4 points in the whole game and was just well, useless, he was lazy and didn't seem intrested in the game at all. Met some familar faces from whatsbev and had a nice beer and chat before I headed back home and I still manage to get lost at the Spectrum - grrr. I'm in Newcastle this weekend so win or lose, you'll know about what type of weekend this Thunder boy had - till then peeps........... |
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EuroLeague Women because women's basketball is the most important thing in life after family and good health! | |
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| Bada Bing | Jun 7 2007, 07:00 PM Post #12 |
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El Crack
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08 MARCH BIG ARENA - THE 8TH EDITION OF THE JINX & SHOTTY TIME THE BIRTH Guess what - it happened again, Worthing lost another final in a big arena so now we can add the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle as another lost cause. It's not that the players didn't try, the guys were beside themselves leaving Newcastle about it and the fourth quarter display they showed was fantastic but a third quarter perfomance of 5 points was terrible and the worst quarter I've ever seen Thunder play ever!! None of us could actually beleive it, it's not like Reading were playing such intense D to force us to that, it was us going 2 out of 8 free throws and us missing 3 lay ups - OPEN ONES that did it, if we would of made at least four free throws and one lay up I'd be calling us trophy winners but I'm not. Full credit to Reading, they punished our lapses and came away with the win and they deserved it, winning 91-85. MVP was Ryan Williams who bumped his ankle in the second quarter and in my view pretended to limp and get a sympethetic ear from the Rockets fans but the classic bit was there was no limp when he collected his MVP award. For all Thunder fans who read this, he played against Northampton with no ankle support and was walking and running fine (yawn). We stayed in Sunderland for the night and a few of us, tryed out the nightlife in Sunderland which was a great experience. We came home, of course gutted but our spirits were all lifted when Dan Shotton started with a can of Fosters in his hand and from then, put on the single funniest and greatest performance ever. He danced, he sung, he stripped ish, he danced on a beam pole at our service station and then Adam Hills and Dan Shotton himself both gave birth to the phrase IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT'SSSSSSSSSS SHHHHHHOOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY TIIIIIIIIIIIMMMMMMEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! "Shotty Time" reigned supreme and the 7 remaining hours we had till we got home flew by and most people actually forgot we'd lost a final, legend. All in all, the fans enjoyed the north east experience but whilst I had to spend £160, the others had to fork out upwards to £200 which is stupid. Whilst Newcastle was a nice venue, the venue itself is too far north and having it at the same place for finals weekend I think will be a distaster with alot of empty seats as supporters just won't be able to afford going there. I thought BBL/EB had learned it's lesson from the trophy finals at Brighton but obviously not. BBL / EB - KEEP IT AT BIRMINGHAM PLEASE!!! On a clear wednesday evening, me and afew Worthing chums decided to take ourselves to Reading on a night that was actually a quite a laugh! First, when I entered Reading, me and DJ (Thunder team manager) see Mike Vear drive through and think he's going to Rivermead so to save me looking at countless road signs, we all decided to follow Mr Vear and bank our way to the Mead but as he drives, I'm starting to realise that he's taking the long way to the gym and that he's actually going the wrong way. DJ then forgot that he was picking up Olivia (Steve Vear's other half) so making a quick u-turn, we find to TGI friday's and onto Rivermead. The game itself was a blowout with Rockets coming out easy winners 104-77 or something like that but the game was for me known for Neptunes only hitting three jump shots in the whole game - the rest being layups and free throws but if Neptunes had actually taken care of the ball and made their other open lay ups, they would of made the game more challenging for Reading who I don't think broke a sweat really with Ryan (one leg) Williams and Steve Vear together doing the business along, Rich Wellings deserves a mention with his consistant shooting and good hustle on the Neptunes ball handler. The crowd wasn't great to be honest, about 50-60 odd there but it was a mid week game and it was a school night, I applaud the fans that were there. Thunder were in the building and we were given a nice welcome and we enjoyed ourselves with the Faithful Reading fans and I think they enjoyed our presence there. Angela and West Herts were there as well |
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EuroLeague Women because women's basketball is the most important thing in life after family and good health! | |
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| Bada Bing | Jun 7 2007, 07:03 PM Post #13 |
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El Crack
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12 APRIL IT’S BEEN A WHILE WRITING BUT WE ARE CHAMPIONS ... FINALLY!! After two final defeats and nothing to show for what has been mainly a convincing season, at around quarter to midnight on Saturday 17th March my phone rung and it was a drunk DJ, who I think was at an engagement party and he asked me to check Pawprint. I scrolled down and saw a score that was in my head for the whole weekend, "Tees Valley Mohawks 96 - 89 Manchester Magic" Thunder were league champions again and finally the players had something to show for the hard work they've put in all season. Thunder had two more games which really had no effect on the table, the end of season awards were awarded after our final home league game, the winners are.. MVP - Alfredo Ott Personality Award - Ryan Marrast Loyalty Award - James Brame Players Player of the Year - Alfredo Ott Overall it's been a good season with only the 1 defeat to Reading which we should have won but Reading deserved it more. It was one of those games where there had to be a loser. Most victories have been pretty convincing to be honest with a few bumpy roads along the way. The departure of Steve Vear is still to this day an iffy one and questions are asked if Vear will be in England at all when this season is over? Being honest, if he stays at Rockets for next year, I'll be surprised. Getting to the playoff’s now and our first test was at home against Solent Stars, who had started poorly but did well down the stretch to gain 8th spot. Solent, led by easily two of the league’s best Americans, Earl Moore and Antonio Bright and a local product Liam Mitchell gave a spirited performance against us but ran out of steam and took the win with Janis and Marcus stealing the show for us. Now we face London Capitals again for the 5th and 6th time this season. Thunder’s legendary fans will be in London in full force on Saturday and should be able to fill half of the tiny City Academy venue, should be fun. The day after the Solent game, I traveled to Reading to watch their quarter final tie with Sheffield who they had whipped by 40 the week before. I was expecting a Reading win but what I wasn’t expecting was the performance they gave. I’ve never seen Reading get single handedly dominated by one player but Arrows Clint Deas did that. I think he ended up with 26 points and 29 rebounds or something like that and Sheffield will count them selves unlucky they didn’t win the game as they were up for pretty much all of it bar the final 4 minutes when Reading’s Rich Wellings gave them the lead with a three and settled the game from the line but if a Magic fan was watching this game, their playoff game with Rockets could be a very close game. Like to quickly add a huge congratulations to Guildford Heat for winning the BBL league this season, and in only their second ever season. Hope to see the Heat fans in Newcastle if we are there. |
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EuroLeague Women because women's basketball is the most important thing in life after family and good health! | |
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| Bada Bing | Jun 7 2007, 07:06 PM Post #14 |
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El Crack
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18 APRIL AM I GETTING AHEAD OF MYSELF? The month of april, I said to myself that I must save up for Newcastle this month and I'm doing well just to let you know but when travelling to face London Capitals, we all knew it would be a tough game but I thought, a close win there and a blowout at our place and we'd be in the land of the toon. What happened though was a London side who'd obviously not read my script, they out played us, out hustled us, had a point guard that we've stopped before but all of a sudden couldn't stop and had one half of the Saunders brothers who dunked everytime he was inside. Basically we were terrible and that's being generous. Danny and Marcus were by a country mile our best players, Marcus was the only guy really scoring consistantly and Danny was as usual putting his body on the line and playing fantastic defense. Loved the fact the Capitals fans thought their number 6 had crossed Danny and had fallen over when a Capitals player had accidently tripped him over and they all stood up going mad - haha. I'm still confident that the job will be done on saturday night and we can turn over a 9 point loss, saturday was just an off night for the players and deep down, they knew it. The support was amazing and win or lose, the 35-40 Thunder fans made a lot of noise and at times drowned out Capitals drum band that played all through the second half. The other play-off game had Reading beat Manchester by 7 but from what I've heard, Reading were up by as many as 20 and Magic got it to single digits so that tie is in the balance as well. I think Reading should really win next week but Reading are starting to get a habit of losing big leads recently, will next week be the same? I was thinking about watching Guildford Heat's playoff game against London Utd and from the texts i was getting, it sounded like quite a tough game for both sides but instead I went to Reading and watched Kirsty's sister Karen move in to her new house with boyfriend Duncan whilst watching Blackburn lose to Chelsea which I was a tad gutted at and I'd imagine so are they considering how many chances the Northeners had.. Is Newcastle still on for us, I think it is, the players are going for 20 point wins and they want Reading in the final and now because I won't be there next week thanks to family matters, I'm not allowed to ever mock Rob (die hard Magic fan, thirty33 on whatsbev) about missing Magic games again, since when did I ever do that though?? Hahaha.. |
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EuroLeague Women because women's basketball is the most important thing in life after family and good health! | |
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| Bada Bing | Jun 7 2007, 07:06 PM Post #15 |
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El Crack
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25 APRIL THE FINAL TIME!! Despite me not being there, Thunder beat London Capitals, overturning a 9 point first leg defeat to win 108-85 and once again, booking our passage to the "Finals Weekend" in Newcastle. I found out last night that we have at the moment, 27 fans coming up north which I think is a fantastic effort considering the 9 hour trip we have to go through plus the fact that half of us haven't been paid yet as well and that I was told there will probably be a few more saying yes, I think we've done well here. Let's hope the trophy and finals weekend is a little more central next season instead of going way up north. In case you wanted to know, I'm taking £50 out from my car account to go to Newcastle this weekend so damn it, I will enjoy myself one way or another. Now for the game itself, where we play Manchester Magic who had dispatched of Reading Rockets and like us, had overturned a 7 point loss this time to beat them which to most of us was quite a shock but it's happened and it's on! Both teams carry a lot of momentum going into this game being that we both won our semi's whilst being behind and winning it seems with ease. Manchester's main threats will come from their two Americans, Matt Miller and John Cagianello who both dropped 31 and 32 respectively on Reading in the 2nd leg. John is probably the best three point threat in the league right now, he has a quick release and for Worthing to close him down, he needs to be guarded closely and have a body put on him. Matt Miller won MVP in the National Cup final against us in the new year and he will try to control the game and when he's on form, can score effortlessly. James has done a good job on him in the past along with Danny so I have faith that the two guards can repeat this on sunday. Matt Hogarth, who was injured in the final in january will be making his first appearence in the major final for Magic so it'll be intresting how he copes with the pressure of a big game. This is Thunder's best chance of finally breaking the big arena jinx which has dogged them since the demise of the Worthing Bears franchise which moved to Brighton as we all know. Hopefully I will provide a sort of diary covering the weekend as it happens but in the meantime, we're on our way to Newcastle again, all my money will be gone, again and damnit this is our time!!! Who knows, we might have another Shotty Time moment again on the trip home, I put those chances as probable too. Laters.. |
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EuroLeague Women because women's basketball is the most important thing in life after family and good health! | |
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| Bada Bing | Jun 7 2007, 07:08 PM Post #16 |
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El Crack
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09 MAY NEWCASTLE WEEKEND (DELAYED) + GB What a weekend had by all at Thunder. A plush hotel where we were shown to our rooms and everything. Nice swim in a lovely pool and had dinner in a huge and quite posh resturant which I didn't expect, (Thunder fans did behave) After a drinking session and a nice breakfast, we travelled to Newcastle in great spirits and the game was a belter. What won the game for us was exactly what Dave and Rob said, second chance points, for two weeks the guys had been working on boxing out and fighting for the board on offence and doesn't practice make perfect! The coaches must of loved seeing that but what was also good was seeing a cool and calm way of bringing the ball up and no player looked nervous and up against it, plus the players had done their homework on Magic's players They learned like at the game in March that Cagianello is a one trick player, 3/13 from the field proves this. Everytime he couldn't shoot, he drove to the hoop and just looked lost the entire time, he wasn't settled in the game at all. Manchester's players I was impressed with were Hogarth, Miller and Hastings, Hastings stepped up for his team and should be proud of his performance and I feel if Magic won, he would be a top contender for MVP along with Matt Miller who actually scored freely and on three occasions went coast to coast and scored the entire time but I feel he tried to do too much and at times it cost Magic but overall, solid and a dangerous player if he comes next season to Magic which I think he will. Matt Hogarth showed complete commitment and never gave up plus scored some fancy and ones but had his work cut out for him marking Janis. For us, the players who were up for it from the start.. Danny H - Pure emotion on the court, even when introduced he jumped up with his fists in the air and he did the usual solid work at the point and hustled hard on Stefan Gill, proud to be a Thunder baller!!! Marvin A - No court time which surprised me but this season, Marv has been a fantastic addition to our squad and has always performed well when called upon. Okolie U - Said it himself that he hasn't got long left before he calls it a day but what an unsung hero he is for Thunder. Got a few minutes, roughed up Manchester's big men, talked trash, got a rebound and a few points, that's Kolie, great bench player. Daniel M - Solid performance, he does the little things well that no one talk about, moves the ball well and was up and down the court no matter what, finished a beauty of a lay up on a fast break as well. Also is Shotty's evil twin! Janis I - Love him or hate him, the guy is a inside monster! Another MVP hunter for the game that he dominated inside. None of Magic's big men could stop him, he was too strong and fearless going for the rebound. Ended the game with a nice dunk which brought the fans to it's feet. Dan S - Didn't get minutes today but like Kolie, was a rock when called upon but give the guy some booze and the party is on. Shotty time was born after Reading, Shotty time pt 2 continued after Manchester, he sung, he danced, he drunk, he wanted to drive us home with a beer in one hand and he even got himself a temporary tattoo after the game. Ryan M - Played well and couldn't ask any more of the entertainer without alcohol. Hastings burned him once but solid apart from that, solid game. Pat B - Played well I thought, set the pace scoring with I think 6 out of our first 10 points, like Danny, a proud Worthing baller. ALFREDO O - Got MVP and in my view, was the best player this season by a mile, he's just a different class. Got 31 effortless points and stood out in the game, he was in a league of his own. James B - Our proud captain and the victim of pure jokes afterwards which I won't say on here but let's say, he struggled! Seriously, a solid performer and played the perfect captain's role, Thunder till he dies! Marcus A - 21 hard earned points and hardly put a foot wrong all game, took it strong to the hoop and consistantly shot the ball well. When we arrived home, he said, "I don't know if I'll be back but we got you what you've wanted since we started this sh**" Ciaran B - Played awesome minutes and did not let anyone down. He husted well and scored when we needed it. Yes Burnsy! Moments of our weekend * Magic and Thunder fans in the same block, they had the first eight or so rows, we had the next eight. Odd, but got on well and chatted before and after the game. * I wonder will the Scottish Rockettes want to introduce us next time? Ryan shooing them away to their surprise was excellent. * Danny's introduction where he jumped up with his fists in the air. He was pumped up for it when he held the trophy, what a moment! * The final buzzer!!! All the players coming out and celebrating like they did and James getting the playoff final trophy. I'll never forget that, and I held the trophy as well!! Yeeeeah. * Shotty Time part 2. The best part was when he'd finished his beer, everyone went straight to the fridge and got him another one. Fun times. *Borat lines throughout the journey! We are now big arena winners but please, never in Newcastle again, please!!!!!!!! The season is now over and the summer is pretty much here, eventhough it is raining in Worthing today. For me, I can just relax, focus on my job, play some ball myself and spend time with the missus but one thing I will be doing over the summer is travelling to London for a few Great Britain games and supporting GB to victory in the remaining games that they have. Due to money and work, the badaball trip to Holland which I wanted to do is not happening, so this will have to do. Team GB, under former Sharks legend, Chris Finch has called up a decent squad of players that, when a fully gelled unit, could challenge in later competitions which ends with the 2012 games in London and hopefully the Olympic basketball competition will have Team Great Britain repesenting against teams like, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Team USA to name a few. Great Britain will have NBA players such as Luol Deng (Chicago Bulls) and Pops Mensah Bonsu ( Dallas Mavericks). ACB stars such as Andrew Betts, Robert Archibald, Andrew Sullivan (Badalona), Joel Freeland (Gran Canaria) amongst others and has former BBL stars, playing elsewhere in Europe, Nate Reinking (Belgium), Roger Huggins (France), Germayne Forbes (Hungary) and others. Perhaps the best thing is the improved squad still has BBL players such as Mike Martin (Guildford Heat), Julius Joseph (Scottish Rocks), Tarick Johnson (London United), Alto Virgil (Chester Jets) and Yorrick Williams (Leicester Riders). GB's games are listed on the "Great Britain" part of the site and they are all a big part of the re-growth of the Great Britain squad and British basketball on the whole and I will be there. It's good that now, GB games are being listed better so that people can pay to see our country in action. I now urge the EBL fans, everywhere.. Worthing, Reading, Manchester, Leopards, Capitals, EVERYONE!! Get down to London in August for games against, Ireland, Slovakia and Albania. They are all in London with the venue to be confirmed. Let's cheer our country on like we do our club teams!!!!!! Enjoy the summer and hope to see you at at least one GB game this August. |
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| Bada Bing | Jun 7 2007, 07:13 PM Post #17 |
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El Crack
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15 MAY .........................WORTHING THUNDER < BBL? Last Wednesday I went to an open meeting discussing Worthing Thunder and next season so as you can tell, the BBL was the main talking point. However, that's as far as I'll go but my own views which I was thinking about as the people were talking throughout. BBL for 2007/08 is out of the picture which is a shame but in the end I think works out well in the long run as we are a constantly growing club with one of the biggest followings in the EBL and we don't want to ruin that by losing money by going straight into the BBL. The BBL's budget is large and the track record for some BBL teams isn't promising with Brighton, Birmingham, Manchester, Derby, London Towers, and Leopards to name others either re-forming in the EBL or just parking their franchise but not returning. It's almost like one team leaves the league a year, and this season has seen teams like London United, Worcester and Leicester really struggle to pay players and it's ended up with a huge downfall in money which of as press time, have no idea what's happening with them, the good news is that all three clubs will be playing BBL ball next season. Another reason I was thinking is would the players, mainly thinking about the local and our London based part time players on this really want to give up their day jobs for what really is a huge pay cut and what they consider a hobby? Which they would have to do, in order to travel up to Scotland sometimes on a Wednesday, Sheffield and Newcastle on a Friday and of course BBL cup and trophy games which mainly take place in midweek, not to mention training pretty much everyday or at least 4 times a week, I doubt in my mind we'd have the money for that, plus not to mention another club that had problems in the higher league and that was our own Worthing Bears. As a fan, I would love my team to challenge the BBL and really have a go and face teams like Newcastle, Sheffield, Guildford etc, and I know we'd get a bigger crowd and away fans would travel more to the Thunder dome but I know that it's a tough ask now that I've put everything into perspective. "What about Plymouth" some people say? Well they have always been a BBL team in an EBL league, they have the help of several sponsors, have a huge fan base and play in a huge theatre (I can't stress that enough - they don't play in an arena or gym ok!). We are a small seaside resort, the help we have from the council is letting us use the Leisure Centre for no charge and we have independent sponsors who serve us excellently. I think I'll leave it there though as I don't want to break into a full on talk about money. Reading and Manchester, who I think along with us, are the only three teams that can have a big shot at the big league, have turned down the offer as well. PAWS London Capital, who finished 5th in the EBL last season have decided to step up to the BBL despite only starting to charge entry this season and play in a run down court with at the moment, one rim broken and a maximum crowd of about 100 people. However, they have done very well this season and have deserved a shot at the BBL and I wish them the best of luck, BBL can, once again boast a London derby again when Capital and United go at it. Attendance would be interesting! What does the future hold for Worthing Thunder next season? I think more success if we keep most of our squad, I can probably start to rub Janis off our squad list, unless he decides to shock us all by coming back – which would be fantastic news for us. Unless teams step up, I fully expect us, Reading and Manchester to occupy the top 3 spots again next season without being too harsh on the others. I think our game night presentation will change a bit as well if our new marketing committee and supporters club work together during the summer. Of course I’m meaning for the better! I think this season will be an exciting and in some terms, even a new venture – watch this space, should be fun. I would also like to welcome to division 1, Derby Trailblazers, Bristol Academy Flyers and Taunton Tigers. Derby = 5 hours, Bristol = 4 hours, Taunton = 3 and a half hours, our away journey’s are starting to get longer again. However, we can rejoice now that the trip to the North East to play Tees Valley, which for us was 8 hours is no-more, at least for one season as they have gone down to div 2 along with Northampton Neptunes who were unlucky to finish bottom of the league last year after |
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| JohnSwissH | Sep 20 2007, 10:06 AM Post #18 |
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07 June Off Season Change Well, not change as such. I’m still in Worthing, counting down the days until the start of the season, I’ve finished my 3rd bottle of Apple Lucozade and I’ve finished my presales for this week but I’ll end my life story for today there. About a month or so ago, Worthing Thunder had their AGM open to all and good things came out of the meeting and a marketing committee was founded to work with the supporters club to improve certain aspects of the club in general. So far, some good things are coming out of the new “project” as it were and hopefully come next season, Worthing Thunder will have improved the little things which make a British Basketball club enjoyable! (Even though it was in the first place, our presentation doesn’t suck – ha). Any news coming from Thunder, well nothing as of yet on the players side but fixtures wise, we know of one game so far, and that is our second round opponents for the National Cup, as we aim to go one better this time round. We will either travel to Southampton to face the impressive Southampton Trailblazers, who were formed last season and will be playing next season in Div 3 south due to winning Div 4 south in their first season, with a perfect record of 16 wins from 16 games and lost out in the semi’s thanks to Sheffield Saints led by Garnet Gayle and “Tilly” Hackett. They feature a solid select of players, mainly from the Solent Stars squad in the 2005/06 season. Marc Jackson, David Butterworth (ex Thunder), Ollie Marsh etc, so they would be no pushovers. lso a possibility would be another trek to London to face off with Westside, who earned their right to be in the EBL via consistent performances in the local leagues and the Hosana Summer League. Westside are a typical never say die, win at all costs squad which makes them dangerous and have a flurry of local talent that might lack mainly in height and depth but have a 100% commitment and fear nobody. Westside and Thunder have met in the National Cup before with Thunder running out 130-80 winners. Alfredo (in his first season) and Rani Malik top scoring for us that night. News from Berkshire is that Reading will be having an interesting summer on the recruitment front. Announced at their presentation day that both Americans, Steve Humphries and Ryan Williams will not be returning, (Ryan is still in Reading by the way. Not one to be homesick), Peder Madsen will not be returning as he has chosen to go back home to Ireland. I hope our chants of “you deserve an ASBO” haven’t driven him to doing that – ha-ha. Either way you look at it, Reading Rockets will be a very changed squad next year. Guildford seem intent at the moment to keeping the core from their championship winning squad by re-signing Brian Dux and Daniel Gilbert along with new signing, Chi-Lewis Parry from London Capital. More from them should follow soon. Team GB as you know now will be in Sussex on the 16th and 17th August against Ireland as a warm up to their remaining qualifiers against Slovakia, Albania, Holland and Belarus. All basketball fans make sure you get yourselves down to the K2 complex in Crawley for those two warm up games, support the National team!!!! |
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| JohnSwissH | Sep 20 2007, 10:09 AM Post #19 |
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Voice of TalkBasket
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14 June On My Travels..(To Crawley) I wish I could go on my travels and no, I don’t mean Crawley! The missus bugs me constantly for it bless her, but I can’t afford it just yet. : ( Anyways, I drove to Crawley last week now to deliver a CD to a customer when I thought I’d pop my head in K2’s door and see what the venue for Great Britain’s exhibition games with Ireland and while I was there enquire about tickets and general info. I was given the number of the agency that will sell the tickets and they were expecting a big crowd for both nights, which was a positive look and the staff, were looking forward to it which I liked. The main hall, which will host the game was very modern looking and overall a pleasant gym. Reminded me of a bigger Herts Sports Village where West Herts Warriors play, the staff said it can hold up to 1900 people and that includes standing on the very top as well. We have the Leisure Centre and are proud of it, as fans but I wouldn’t say no to driving to K2 for Thunder’s televised games if that ever happened (I pray for that again). Leisure Centre’s lighting prevented Bears games from being televised but K2’s is good enough. Will hold more people and just looks better, If Leisure Centre staff see this, I might be in for a grilling – ha ha. The Thunder community is this week, mourning the loss of one of its match night presenters, fan and family man, Ron Hildreth. Ron did the music before and during match night and enjoyed what he did. He gave a lot to Thunder and asked for little if not nothing in return. A true fan and friend of all of us here at Thunder and everywhere he was known. Brighton, Mid-Sussex and Derby all have fond memories of a truly honest and generous human being and without doubt, he will be truly missed. My thoughts are with all the Hildreth family at this time and I will end by saying goodbye Ron, and THANK YOU! Next wednesday will be the marketing committee's final layout to our directors. We have some excellent plans and we hope they are accepted. If it is, it's going to be the start of some big things and I for one, am very much looking forward to it. Confirmed also this week that Brighton Bears Juniors have been re-named to, you guessed it, Worthing Thunder Juniors. Thunder now have a junior programme which consists of 14's, U16, and U18's and will be hoping to continue the fine form which led Brighton Bears to the final fours last season when they fell to the actual winners, Reading Rockets, led by Danny Carter and Dan McKay. Things here on the coast are quiet but it's early days guys!! Great Britain are going to be in town so support your national team and get down to K2 on the 16th/17th August. |
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| JohnSwissH | Oct 25 2007, 10:53 AM Post #20 |
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Voice of TalkBasket
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02 JULY MID SUMMER BOREDOM Well, it isn’t officially summertime yet either way, news is as I thought it would be, not much. Recently had a meeting with Thunder’s directors regarding next season’s plans and despite good things hoping to come out of it, it’s mainly hush, hush. Thunder’s juniors have released the dates for their trials and hoping improve on good seasons last year, which saw both U13’s and U18’s reach the final fours but fall just short of glory. Sunday July 15th - Under 14 - 1-4pm @ BOUNDSTONE (Coach Steve Nelson) Sunday July 22nd - Under 13 - 9-11am @ ANGMERING (Coach Steve Parnell) - Under 16 - 11-1pm @ ANGMERING (Coach Tony Awcock) - Under 18 - 1-3pm @ ANGMERING (Coach TBC) - Under 15 - 3-5pm @ ANGMERING (Coach Dodi Butor) Thanks to Rob Newson for releasing those details. A former Thunder player who has done so much for junior basketball in Sussex, I hope it continues now with Thunder’s name replacing Bears. The National Trophy pool groups came out this week, London Capitals have, of course entered the BBL so it could make this year’s competition a little more interesting. Worthing have had probably the easier draw in the two groups with Sheffield, Solent, West Anglia (Kings Lynn), Leopards and new boys Taunton. Sheffield will probably be our toughest game but with all respects, I don’t expect Thunder to slip up but what does my view mean eh? Holders Reading are in Pool 1 with Manchester, Bristol, Coventry, Derby and West Herts Warriors, that’s the tougher pool of the two for sure. Congratulations are in order to Guildford Heat for going into the ULEB Cup for this coming season (Eurosport coverage maybe Roy?). There, however have been a lot of questions asked on whether financially this will work for Guildford and the BBL? Most countries that participate in the ULEB and Euroleague, are financially well off and have players that were big NCAA players and the odd few had NBA tryouts or were NBA players but remember Brighton Bears? They missed the second round by a whisker and were given praise for the guts they showed in their final three games, especially Randy Duck but couldn’t enter the competition after that due to money problems and then the franchise ended up parked up for the 2006/07 season and at this time of typing, there are no plans to resurrect the Bears franchise. Other than the brief memories of London Towers entering Europe, I can’t really say much on the subject of British teams and European ball, but rest assured, I do look forward to traveling to watch some of Guildford’s home games in Europe and hopefully, it could further up the product of Guildford Heat to the people of Guildford and even the county of Surrey. Good Luck! What a draw you have as well, Badalona as the big draw for them, Andrew Sullivan, Andrew Betts and Robert Archibald will return to England and Ricky Rubio will hopefully be in Badalona colours for the game versus Guildford, rest assured, I will try and make that before it sells out. |
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| JohnSwissH | Nov 12 2007, 01:03 PM Post #21 |
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Thunderstruck Strikes Again When the playoff final in Newcastle ended and EBL basketball was over for another season. I knew it would be difficult to keep writing about the team I love and about other goings on here in the good old south over the summer and it’s proving to be a right bitch to do. There might be news but I’ve been told to politely shut the hell up over it (Danny Hildreth’s words, ha ha). One thing I can let out as it’s over his myspace site, is that Alfredo Ott will be leaving Thunder to further his playing career in Spain, with a club at this time, to be confirmed to us. Fredo’s close friends here at Worthing and his family know what club he’s at I’d imagine. Alfredo was one of the main reasons Thunder became the top club in the English Basketball League. He led the team in scoring in his two seasons here and was Thunder’s MVP twice, Player’s Player and in his last season here, he was voted the Playoff final MVP (sorry Rob) and League MVP. The guy accomplished a lot here in his time on the South Coast and I hope he enjoys his time in a new environment in a different country. Reading have strengthened their squad with the signing of ex Arrows forward Clint Deas, but with James Cook, Peder Madsen, Jamie Ashwin, Ryan Williams and Steve Humphries on the way out, Rockets will have a fresh line up for the new season. Guildford continue to beef their team with the signing of ex Plymouth big guy, Carlton Aaron. A lot of people have mixed feelings to how this guy will perform in the ULEB Cup but with the team Heat have now they will be very exciting to watch. “Exciting to watch” and “BBL” doesn’t usually add up but I feel Guildford will be challenging for most of the honors this year, watch this space….. I've been hearing that Worthing Thunder junior trials have been getting good turnouts for most age groups, U18’s had a total of 40 ballers turn up, U16 had a total of 16 players show up and interest is growing from the other age groups but haven’t had the number of people yet. I hope it’s a successful season for the youngsters with the new name and image. In the years I’ve been following the Basketball Leagues here in England, I’ve never known the EBL to be so quiet with news with over a month till the new season starts. Hopefully, we’ll find out something soon! |
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| JohnSwissH | Nov 21 2007, 01:54 PM Post #22 |
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10SEPT - WE'RE BACK ON COURT I’m back, a little late but hopefully from now, my page will be updated more now that the season is nearing. I’m taking myself back to the 16th of August when I watched GB take on Ireland in a friendly. The game itself was a total blowout but for me, a chance to see Britain’s star baller, Luol Deng, and without breaking sweat he top scored as Ireland, as expected could not contain him and with a supporting cast of Richard Midgley, Andy Betts and Robert Archibald, GB strolled past the fighting Irish on both nights. The next night, I made the trip up to Berkshire to watch Reading Rockets new look side in action against a very young and ultra talented San Jose State Spartans side and despite Rockets, who were without Steve Vear and new American Clint Deas dominating in the opening quarter through three pointers from other new American Andy Harper and from Dave Watts, the side from California showed more heart and better overall team play to beat the EBL League runners up by ten. Jamon Hill, led all scorers on the night. This past weekend, I continued my trip along the south but just short of Reading. I drove to Bracknell to see the ULEB Cup bound Guildford Heat play a London Leopards squad, which I’m led to believe isn’t a full team as of yet. Guildford naturally blew them out 135-70. The new players looked settled quickly which is a plus for all at Heat and look as though they will challenge for top honours again this season. Remember readers, this is only their THIRD season. This team and organization has all my respect. Now to what’s going on with Thunder, basically what I know anyway. We have two players confirmed. New American Demetrius Scott, and American born player James Mooney who has an Irish passport. James was born in the Bronx in New York and played NCAA Div III there, averaging 27 points and in his senior level at Mount St Vincent amassed a total haul of 617 points. He joined Tralee Tigers in the Irish Superleague where he averaged 17 points, 3 assists and 2 steals a game. Demetrius joins us from Appalachian State, same as Clint Deas (Reading) and Noah Brown (ex Arrows) where he averaged 10 points a game on 59% floor shooting. Thunder are still looking for a new American and as of yet, the Brits have yet to be signed so we’ll wait and see what squad Chris Mayes puts out on Saturday to face the USA Select team. Basketball in the south is back… Thunder remains!!!! |
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| JohnSwissH | Jan 8 2008, 01:42 PM Post #23 |
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26 SEPT – NORMAL SERVICE Thunder’s season is pretty much underway now, with two friendlies played and two more to come before the real season begins, the team has now been assembled and 7 players have remained from last season, Pat, Danny H, Dan M, James, Okolie, Ciaran and Ryan deciding to go for a third title. Thunder would like to welcome, locals Ian Berry, Adam Martin as well as new recruits Demetrius Scott, Cleve Woodfork and James Mooney which completes the lineup. As a fan, I’m happy with the squad and happy we got a lot of locals playing for us. Shows how big basketball in Sussex is with Danny, Dan, James, Ian and Adam all products of the Sussex basketball system, now playing for the English champions and for most of them, getting significant minutes with the two youngsters obviously learning in the pursuit to be better players for the future. We’ve started with two good workouts a loss to the USA Select side and a win against Bognor, which included last season’s fan favourite Dan Shotton. Our relationship with Bognor I hope will grow as we both, as clubs continue to build our fan base and overall team and staff. I wish Keith Croft and all at Bognor all the best for the upcoming season. Over the next few weeks and indeed months, I will be a busy boy so expect more blogs and updates on the Thunder front as we continue to push on the marketing side of Worthing Thunder and aim to continue coverage and goings on around the south as Guildford, Reading and Bognor get their seasons underway. Guildford’s ULEB Cup adventure will keep me busy no doubt. Worthing will come first though but hopefully soon I can hope for some big news on Guildford’s part so stay tuned for that. Thinking very ahead now and EBL finals day are re-introduced as BBL are having a separate day on Jan 13th at NIA Birmingham. Questions have been asked of where it’ll be held and going back to my venues review a while ago, I’d consider ABC, home of Manchester Magic and Mystics a heavy favourite along with EIS in Sheffield. Thunder’s own Leisure Centre and Reading’s Rivermead I feel are outside bets but I heavily predict out EBL finals will be up north. Guess we’ll wait and see though eh? What do you guys think?? Drop a comment, that’s what it’s there for! |
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| Bada Bing | Jan 10 2008, 08:16 AM Post #24 |
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El Crack
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25 oct more basketball... more alcohol I know my blogs are becoming more and more distant from each other but I'm a busy brother. Thunder's season has now properly started and my Saturday evenings, where I usually end up laying drunk anywhere in Worthing or Brighton, are now replaced with trips to Manchester, Reading, Ware, Bristol, Derby, etc with Worthing Thunder and the odd few trips to Guildford to watch Heat as a fair neutral. I'm gonna ask you to keep looking out for the Badaball match reports with Guildford Heat, and big ULEB round up's with the Heat. The match report for Sunday's Heat vs Lions game is now in the "British Ball News" page. This past Saturday night Thunder's home fixtures tipped off when we faced off with a new look London Leopards team, which had lost a bulk of their squad from last season but for this season, had kept one or two faces in the team, gotten rid of the Americans and were mainly a squad made up of the stand outs from the Barking Abbey Academy, players like Michael Jarvis, Lukas Volskis etc. With a veteran but still young cast to help the youngsters out, Gareth Laws, Deng Deng, Sammy Salter (probably a bit old to be called young now – ha-ha) and assistant coach Lloyd Gardner. Leopards have a home grown side which is still hoping to compete for a play-off spot and after Saturday's game, which Worthing won, Leopards fought for everything and competed till the final buzzer and even though you could say it was men vs boys, the boys of Leopards had built respect with the Worthing fans and took a lot of pride out of Saturday's loss. As for us, it's looking good and signs are promising as ever. Coach Rob has added from last season's free scoring side a greater hustle for the loose ball to get second chance points and a more hard nosed defensive presence, which is something Rob was praised for in his playing season with us in 2005/06. The overall pressure the Leopards players were faced with as soon as they got the ball was intense, with Rob at the helm, I think we'll be seeing a lot more of that this season. Offensive side, still free scoring, still quick up and down the court still a threat from any distance and James Mooney now knows who the Back Row is. Forget Wayne Rooney it's all about, “MOONEY, MOONEY, MOONEY”. Can't wait to see how our trio of Woodfork, Scott and Mooney do over the season? Things can only get better I feel!!! Even though, we've got Taunton this Saturday and London Westside of div 3 in the National Cup the next day in out first double header of the season, I can't help but look forward to travelling to Derby in our first League game of the season and the look that Derby are hoping for a sell out at Moorways on the night as well. On paper, we should come away from Derby with the W, but with Derby improving their squad every week it seems with some very late additions to the team, they will be up for their first game in EB's top flight and what better occasion than to have the champions pay you a visit. Problem is, I think I might be a lone chanter as Adam can't make it due to work, Luke I think has a game and we've lost little Julian to Team Manager. Thunder fans, supporting your team should be more than sitting down applauding Worthing, make some noise, you know it makes sense, trust me you'll enjoy it more!! Turns out my Saturday's of laying drunk are still alive, As soon as the Taunton game is over, I'm straight off to Brighton to get well, jolly well smashed and I'll be in a great frame of mind for Sunday's trip to London. Good times!!! |
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| Bada Bing | Jan 10 2008, 08:16 AM Post #25 |
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El Crack
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12 NOV BUZZING The EBL season is in full swing, we head to a important part of the season for Worthing. Now that our chops and changes of who's coach is settled and the Americans have gotten used to their surroundings. The League table will start to take a little shape now and it's vital that the guys stay focused and with the games we have from now to the Christmas break, we stand a good chance of ending the new year at the top of the table. Our final League game of the year is against Manchester Magic, who on paper look to have the strongest side in the League but the game isn't played on paper so it's anyone's game. This League isn't like the BBL, where even having 5 or 6 losses can win you the crown, lose more than 2 or 3 games and your title hopes could be dashed, eventhough this League isn't competitive and let's face it, it's not, you have to be consistantly willing to perform in order to get the W and as the season goes, it'll be important to stay focused and remain on the top spot but for me, speaking as a fan, the important business right now is to win the "so called" easy games and build momentum into our games with the two of the big 3. I hope the guys give 100% and give us fans, something to smile about. For those in attendance on Saturday night (10/11/07), it was a entertaining evening. Okolie, Midge, Danny and Adam were suspended and the latter three were injured but that didn't mean they wern't going to play a part in the evening. Okolie decided to be the night's disc jockey and he added a bonus where he cut Dave Marshall's mike off a few times which was funny. Midge decided to re-live his days as a Worthing Bears fan and joined the Back Row for some chants and even I was loving some old school chants from the days that I just about remembered. Danny, who is on crutches joined us with 2 minutes to play after numerous chants of “DANNY FOR THE BACK ROW, DANNY FOR THE BACK ROW” and Adam being the mature boy he is, decided to stay on the bench but did wave to us after a “ADAM GIVE US A WAVE” chant. Its amazing what alcohol does to your system before a basketball game. From the fun and frolics of Saturday turned to mourning on Sunday when we learned that one of Worthing Thunder's stewards and Thunder fan from the beginning, Pete Girton lost his battle with cancer the morning after the game. Pete for me was a guy that I had a lot of time for and at times found him bunking off his Steward duties to watch the footy in the bar. A Man United fan who always rattled on about how he hated Liverpool (my team) and our friendly banter was always great fun and he just made everyone around him happy and I know I'm not alone in that statement. A true Thunder fan and a great man in all aspects. Rest In Peace Pete!! A quick note to say that Guildford's ULEB campaign at home starts on Tuesday at home to Badalona and tickets are still available so make sure you order your tickets even if you are not a Guildford fan and be part of one of the biggest nights in British Basketball. Heat fans and players, I know are still getting over the news about Brian Dux's car accident over the weekend and I'm sure he's gutted that he won't be playing on Tuesday but the main focus or Brian is to get healthy and I hope he gets well soon. Where does this leave Guildford on Tuesday? Dean Williams and James Jones sharing the point guard duties, maybe Jon May getting some burn? We'll wait and see. |
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8:51 AM Jul 11