Last full day in the embrace of Norwegians

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  Asker, Norway
Friday, April 4, 2008

On April 3, most of our entourage got into downtown Oslo, some looking at shops (the Lady Nighthawks) and some heading out to the Vigeland sculpture park (the chaperones). Some stayed in Asker, relaxing and watching big screen tv, getting ready for a big game against the best team of this age group in Norway (the Nighthawks boys). Oslo is beautifully situated on rolling hills surrounding the end of a long fjord, a mix of 200-year-old buildings and rather stark buildings from the 60s and 70s that evoke the no-nonsense style of the Finns. But it all fits together, especially along the waterfront below an old fort, and is more human scale than is Copenhagen, given that there are only 500,000 people here, all of them proud Norwegians. The sculpture park is a vast project, 80 acres with over 1000 larger-than-life sculptures of human figures in personal interactions -- men carrying boys, old women sitting side by side talking, a cluster of girls looking in the distance, a group of boys looking at the sky.
Today we have off, and almost everyone will return to Oslo, including the boys for the first time. I think our target are the ship museums on an island across the bay, which include 1,000-year-old Viking ships recovered from burial mounds, Thor Heyrdahl's Kon Tiki and Ra II, which he used to prove ancient mariners could cross the broad oceans in reed boats, and the Fram, the strongest ship in the world, designed to be locked in Arctic ice for the winter allowing the Norwegian crew to reach the North Pole. At least that was the idea.
Our Norwegian hosts just keep pouring it on. They are always eager with transport and meeting our demanding schedules in terms of pickups and arrivals. They are completely spoiling the players and it is going to be tough for all parents when we get home. Some say they are a bit puzzled about why we are here -- why we chose Norway -- and are determined to make sure it was a good choice. The answer to that last question is that we now have a history of exchanges back and forth, and as Ola Thomas said at our dinner the other night, an exchange is like a story that continues chapter to chapter, a never-ending story. There is already talk of one of the Asker girls teams coming to the Seattle area in late December 2008 and trying to connect with us, even briefly, in Jefferson County.

The boys played the early game, 4 pm, in the region's largest basketball court in Sandvika, midway between Asker and Oslo. Sandvika is Norway's best team of this age group, big and fast and skilled. Our boys played very hard and with their usual pedal-to-the-metal speed and intensity, but they could not pull this one out. They lost by 16 in a high-scoring game, 91-75, which represents a lot of points given up and a lot of points scored. But any basketball fan who heard that score was very surprised and impressed -- Sandvika beats most teams by 30.
These boys have just turned heads everywhere, but usually by the second quarter. They are taking on the best teams in this country, always out-sized and always out-shot from the perimeter. But there's a pattern -- the Scandos come out looking at this scraggly, skinny bunch and think this will be a cakewalk, and then in the end of the third quarter they look up and see they are trailing by 7. What!? The coach starts yelling and the players look confused and then it just gets worse from there. Casey is doing a magnificent job as coach. His boys are completely focused on his game plan, and he coaches in the moment, changing game plans and subbing to fit the real-time game situation. There is a flow to these contests that is all forward moving and positive, nothing getting pulled back or bottled up. The pace of the game is very fast and the depth of this squad can handle it. Kevin Rubio is everywhere, Joel Thomas can handle anybody on defense, Rory Kenna is a team leader again and threat from anywhere, probably second in rebounding, Eric Thomas has found his game, Jaydee Dodd just stuns people with his defense and ball-stealing, Walker Wilson has been scoring 8-9 points and battling bigger guys underneath for boards, and the other guys have been doing what they do.
On the girls side we finally played a team our own age and it was very lop-sided, we won by 30 or 40. The only game we've had with a team that was right on our level was the second game in Copenhagen. The girls are playing together much better and we are platooning a bit on the substitutes which worked very well. The Townsend girls run a nice perimeter game with cuts, the Chimacum girls run a fierce press and an exceptional motion game, and our posts Kari and Shelby can fit into either one. I'm looking forward to good games in Sweden.
The Norwegians and the Danes, by the, wish us farewell with only one consistent and fond hope: 'Beat the Swedes.'
We depart on an early train tomorrow from Asker to the Oslo Central Station, and then are on the 9:28 am from Oslo to Stockholm, a 6-7 hour ride across the breadth of Scandinavia.
MOre later

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