My First Ever Basketball Tournament

It's hard to believe that my first experience playing in a real basketball game happened during my time in India. Yes, I've played pickup games at UC Davis and in junior high, but these games always lack something: Referees and Free Throws. Today, I played in the first game of a little mini-tournament setup by some of the workers at Infosys. The format is four 8-minute quarters. Our team was made up 8-9 U.S. batch members, so there are substitutions, which means I don't have to save my energy for the end of the games.

So there are 4 teams and each team plays each other once. The teams with the most wins move on to the finals, while the other 2 play in the 3rd place game. 4 of the members on our team are at least 6-feet tall, which is a bit of a mismatch for the other team. The other team had 1 player that like that.

So the game itself is scored on a a whiteboard and there's a person that keeps time and keeps track of our stats. Each game is officiated by 2 referees. Pretty good for an informal tournament. We jumped out to a 16-8 lead. I got tired near the end of the 2nd quarter and by then the other team was coming back. At halftime, I think the score was 18-12. I checked backed into the game halfway through the third quarter and by then the score was tied 18-18. While me and Barry were out, the offense got stagnant.

But we managed to pull away in the 4th quarter. I think I scored about 4 baskets, so it was a pretty good experience and it turned out to be a pretty good game. Next game is on Monday.

Long Cycle is Here

Long cycle is now here in Hyderabad and their initial review of the place is pretty positive. Many have expressed that there is a renewed sense of freedom here as I described when I first arrived here. Long cycle arrival has increased the amount of exercise I've gotten. The first thing they wanted to do was play frisbee on the cricket field which to my surprise, is allowed. No one had a problem with it. So today, I played frisbee to warm up and followed that up with the basketball game.

There is also talk about what we're going to do for the upcoming 4-day weekend, our only long weekend of the 6-month period. Some people are going to Thailand and others are going to Goa, which is in the west coast of India. Tickets are around 20,000 Rs. ($500) so it will be an expensive trip, which probably means it will be my only trip outside of Hyderabad (excluding the Taj Mahal). I have yet to make up my mind, but I'm leaning towards going to Goa. It should be fun.