The gold medal game was much more closely contested as I had first thought, as after three minutes of play, the score was still tied. However, over the next 37 minutes, we went on an 85-40 run which really put the game out of reach. For everyone who thinks I might have gotten rusty after taking a month off after the season, I had fifteen in the first quarter on five of six from downtown, and then I don’t think I took any shots the rest of the game, so immediately quiet those thoughts. Regardless, the game was a lot of fun, and even though the result was inevitable and the stakes low, it still felt great standing on the middle podium while the American Anthem played.

That night, we celebrated with the men’s masters team, a team composed of “players” over 35 years of age. (Coach Levy was thinking about making the trip, and obviously, if he had decided to do so, the quotation marks would not be surrounding the word “players”. However, that was not the case, so we’ll leave it be.) They took us out to local bars and we shmoozed with them, trying to desperately get our resumes out to them verbally hoping that whatever they said that night at 2am they would eternally stand by. Unfortunately, I don’t know if they’re going to hold up their end of the bargain.

A few days before, we traveled to the Zoo to check out some of the unique animals residing in Australia. We saw and petted some kangaroos, Tasmanian devils (didn’t pet them), as well as koalas. Koalas, by the way, lead a life dogs would envy, as they are asleep for nearly 20 hours a day, and for three of their awake hours, they are eating leaves off of the trees they sleep in. Not too bad.

That night, about five or six guys on the team and I went to watch the finals of the World Cup in Sydney’s “Little Italy”. There were around 50,000 people spread out over many blocks outside of their homes and piled, almost literally, on top of one another (balconys were full, etc.) watching Italy play France. Each street had about 3 huge projection televisions set up and restaurants were open for business. Normally, Americans are used to the whole idea of cheering for your team, etc., and it shouldn’t seem too weird that people were out and restaurants were open, etc…except for the fact that it was about 3:30 am in Australia, and people stayed up until the game ended, which was around 5:30. I was only there for about a half hour, but lucked out and it was during the only goal Italy scored before penalty kicks (I should go on for about three to four pages here about why penalty kicks are an awful way to decide a World Cup Final, but I don’t think Jon would appreciate it.). The goal set off what could be considered a riot, as a massive fire was lit and cars were being shook back and forth (cars, I might add, whose only purpose were to be either a) lit on fire after a goal or b) rocked back and forth and eventually overturned after a goal). Definitely and interesting experience.

The closing ceremonies were held at Luna Park, a quasi-amusement park held on the Sydney Harbor. They left a lot to be desired, and we tried to leave as quickly as they’d let us out. And we did. The next morning, about 80 percent of the people staying at the hotel left to get on planes to travel back home. The other 20 percent, of which I was a part, deviated from the flight home to spend some extra time in Australia. Two of my teammates and I remained in Sydney for one night and then took a three hour flight north to Cairns (pronounced “Cans” somehow) to check out a different region of the continent.

Cairns was absolutely amazing, and I even got a chance to go scuba diving, which was pretty surreal. An “introductory” dive consists of them putting us on a boat, driving us an hour and a half to the middle of the ocean, making sure we know how to breathe through the oxygen tank (apparently, we knew how to breathe after trying it once under three feet of water), and then taking us to the bottom of the ocean (30 feet under) with one instructor. It was pretty intense. However, it was without a doubt one of the coolest things I’ve ever done in my life.

The next day, we flew back to Sydney, slept at a hotel in Sydney, and then got ready for out flight leaving the next day.

My flight home was great, as there was only a six-hour delay in Sydney, so instead of leaving at 12 noon, we left at 6pm. But at least that didn’t affect my connecting flight home from California. I was originally supposed to have a two-hour layover in California and then fly into Philadelphia at 9pm. However, due to the first six-hour delay, I was forced to wait for 8 hours in California, and then jump on a red-eye to Philadelphia at 11pm, which arrived at 6am. Unfortunately, I was wide-awake the entire flight because my jet lag had yet to kick in and I was still on the 2pm Australian time. So, while everyone else was passed out for the five-hour ride, I was listening to music (unable to read or do anything productive because in red-eyes, every light is off, and turning one light on essentially lights up the entire cabin), ready to explode from boredom. So that was pleasant and definitely not unnerving.

However, I am glad to say that I am safely back in New Jersey now. I hope everyone has enjoyed my diaries, regardless of the extensive time in between entries, for which I’ll simply blame my editor, Jon Solomon. I’ve had this one finished for over a month now, it’s just that he’s very picky about which stories are used, plus we’ve had problems with our publishers. They wanted over 30% of the profits, but Jon and I didn’t want to renege on our original promise of only 23.5%. So we’ve gone to a third party for arbitration for a while, and finally have gotten everything settled.

Thanks for your time.

Scott Greenman