Aug. 18, 2001

By Jermaine Robinson, Junior

Some players woke up earlier than others today, so they could be first in line to see Michelangelo's statue of David at the Museum of the Academy. From what they said, it was pretty impressive. I was part of the crew who stayed in bed until 8:45 a.m. We got up to eat breakfast at our Jolly Hotel, and were told to have everything packed and ready to go at 11 a.m. We left Florence at about 11:15 a.m. and were on the road to Pisa and then our game in Livorno. The bus ride to Pisa was about an hour and a half. We got there at about 12:45 and had to switch from our bus to a shuttle bus to go see the famous leaning Tower of Pisa. The tower was about a five-minute walk from where the shuttle bus dropped us off. It was located, with a cathedral and the largest baptistery in Italy, in the middle of a nice, big, green lawn surrounded by a big plaza where you could shop for al types of stuff. We took many team pictures in front of the tower before we were on our own for lunch and a little shopping. But we were only able to stay in Pisa until 2:15 p.m. because we had a game at 4 p.m. in Livorno. After everyone got their food, however, we didn't board the shuttle bus until 2:30 p.m. That meant we didn't have much time to get to the arena in Livorno in time for the game. It was about 3:20 or 3:30 p.m. when we arrived at the gym. We all had to hurry to get dressed and ready in just those few minutes before game time. It seemed like it was time to play as soon as we got our uniforms on. We did have a minute to exchange gifts before tip-off and they gave us each a blue travel belt.

The gym we played in was hot and humid. I have never seen so many people drinking water in my life! Coach Mass was just sitting down and his shirt was completely wet and full of sweat. By the time halftime came around, I felt like I was about to die because it was so hot. I would run up and down the court a few times and was ready to come out of the game. The finally ended after two hours in that awful heat and we ended up getting our butts kicked. As we headed for the locker room, all I could think about was getting in a cold shower. After we got showered and dressed, we were on our way to Porto San Giorgio on the other side of Italy, about five hours away. We stopped along the ride about two or three times for food and bathroom breaks. We arrived in Porto San Giorgio somewhere between 1 and 2 in the morning and I guess everybody went to bed because that's just what I did.