Pete Strobl's Blog
Pete Strobl grew up in Los Angeles, California and went on to play college basketball at D1 Niagara University, New York. After graduating with his Master's Pete began playing professional basketball in Europe and has played in France, Austria, and Germany. This season Pete is Player/Assistant Coach for Merry Monk Ballina. He writes a weekly blog for Streetballireland.com on basketball, life and his experience in Ireland.
Blog #4 - Bye Bye Jimmy
I was going to attempt to start from the beginning in order to keep my blog entries in some type of chronological order, but today I'm forced to jump ahead. As many of you have already heard, Jimmy Boston is no longer a "Monk". There's still doubters in and around Ballina as to how good Jimmy was, but the numbers don't lie. Four games, four wins. That's the type of win-loss record I'm sure we'd all love to have! For those of you lucky enough to have seen Jimmy play, you know what he brought to the game. He's got a great touch for a man of his size and he shot 18 foot jumpers with a higher percentage than most big men shoot lay-ups. He also weighed an estimated 19 stone (although I must admit, I have no idea what that actually means or how much that would be in pounds or kilos). Anybody who thinks that sounds heavy is correct. He is heavy, but it's all muscle. I've played with a lot of big guys over the years and NEVER have I played with anybody that physically gifted. I often found myself looking at him wondering why he wasn't playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers. When he put on our green uniform before our first game together in Ulster, I couldn't help but comment on him looking like the Incredible Hulk.
Jimmy is also blessed with a great personality that allowed him to seamlessly blend in with our team. Because of this, we were all on an increased pace towards the all-mighty "team-chemistry" that all teams yearn. Everything was going great and most importantly, we were winning. Unfortunately Jimmy had some issues that he needed to take care of back in the States so we were forced to say goodbye to our "Hulk". Last night we played our first game without Jimmy. We were extremely lucky to be able to secure the short-term services of a player named Jermaine Turner to jump in and play with us. However, because it was such short notice we went down to play first-place Tralee barely knowing more than each others' name. We played good for stretches, but the chemistry and cohesiveness was clearly lacking for the majority of the game. If Jermaine decides to stay, I think we'll most definitely develop a chemistry that could propel us to the top of the league. However, Tralee did a fantastic job of sticking to their game plan and deservedly won a hard fought game. From what I've heard, that group has been together for a long time now and it's apparent that they enjoy playing with one another. The Tigers are in first place for a reason!
Winning is fun and it's always a pleasure to leave the court with a victory. Losing on the other hand sucks! So you can imagine how much fun our 5-hour drive back to Ballina was after the game. NONE! Because we had all that time however, I think we all spent a good amount of time replaying the game in our minds and wondering what we could have done differently. One thing that I'm extremely proud of is the way our team sticks together. We make mistakes like everybody else, but we support each other and are more concerned with fixing our own faults than pointing fingers at anyone else. I think in the long run this should allow us to continue taking strides forward. It's a long season so we still have a long way to go. I've already analyzed my mistakes too many times to count and can't wait to get in the gym tomorrow to get back to work. I know my guys all feel the same way!
While I'm must admit that I'm disappointed that Jimmy left, I wish him the best of luck. I sincerely hope I'm lucky enough to wear the same team jersey as him again someday!
Pete Strobl
petestrobl@gmail.com