Sunday, December 7, 2008

Universal Studios and Lakers



Today marked the first of many extremely busy days. The day began with breakfast in the hotel (the boys enjoyed making waffles) followed by a trip to Universal Studios. The size of the place is amazing! The many rides and attractions make for a fantastic tourist destinations. The team enjoyed rides such as the Simpson's, the Mummy Returns and Jurassic Park (Well done Steve Crackel). The theme park also provided a great tour of the backlot, which includes sound and film studios for television and film.

Some of the group decided they would put their basketball skills to the test on one of the sideshow alley challenges (shooting a ball in a hoop approx 15 ft height). Unfortunately jet lag was the winner and hopefully the shooting performance does not reflect was is to come when we begin our competition games.

The nba game was an opportunity to see the MVP from last season perform live. The crowd was extremely attractive, as was the passion for the USA national anthem - with the hoots and yeahs when 'the land of the free' line was sung. Unfortunately for the viewers in our immediate area my little boy decided that was the best time to test his lungs in public for the 1st time... he certainly was testing the 'home of the brave' theory!

The group is extremely tired heading into tomorrow's first competition game. With that disclaimer in mind we take on Polytechnic HS at lunch time tomorrow in front of the entire school... This time we will remember face the flag during the national anthem and hopefully sing the Australian national anthem with gusto.

Apologies for the lack of pictures, the Internet access here is limited so it takes over 5 mins to upload a picture then it crashes on queue. I will endeavour to post the pictures ASAP.

The boys are in good spirits, are well fed, and look forward to playing tomorrow. We have instructed the boys to contact families, so hopefully you have heard from your son by this stage.

3 comments:

eileen said...

Thanks for the update. Good luck to the team for the game against Polytech- I amsure they will fly the flag high for TC and Australia- they are each one winners already and we are proud of them. I for one will be cheering loudly from down under and will refrain from thinking anything about umpires.
Cheers Eileen

McLaughlans said...

Glad to hear all are well, but tired. Good luck for your first game. We are certain you all will do us proud. Please congratulate Steve on his courage, as I too have "taken the plunge" on the Jurassic Park ride(and lived to tell the story!!!just)
Take care,
The McLaughlans

Athena said...

Hi evryone ilias and I saw the boys the day before yesterday at the Costa game. Both teams really put in a great effort and were in there for the best part of the game. I'd say fatigue set in later in the game. But what is important is that they are being competitive and really enjoying the experience.
Just thought to mention also that the refs got a real hammering from their own coaches.....they don't need me or Eileen for that matter!!!!!!!!!!(hehehehe)