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Highlights: Butler closes his European tour with a 4-0 record.
Highlights: Butler closes his European tour with a 4-0 record.
Courtesy of Butler Athletics, Indianapolis Star
Editor’s note: John-Michael Mulloy of Carmel will be contributing entries for IndyStar Magazine during the Butler Bulldogs’ tour of Italy and Greece.
Kick off for Game 2 is 8:30am and the bus leaves at 9:30am to start the day in Rome. We visited the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, and the Pantheon before ending the sightseeing part of the day at Piazza Navona.
It was amazing to see all these historical places again, and it was a great time with the group as we all bonded more than before. Everyone who takes a photo for Instagram throws up at the end of the trip, everyone tries to speak their best Italian to the locals.
This trip will be one that each of us will remember for the rest of our lives.
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It was a hot day on our tour and we all had to kick back and relax to prepare for our second game and try to top our previous performance. We loaded the bus ready for the heat, ready to play Butler basketball.
Coach Mata again challenged us to play better. Even though we knew we were going to win the game, it challenged us to play harder. And that’s what we did. We played better than the game before, with fewer mistakes, and more contact.
The coach was proud of us when we did what he asked of us, but at the same time he knew we had better within us to come.
After another 30-point win, the team was definitely tired. Considering we were touring in 90 degree heat both mornings and then playing in a hot gym, we needed a break. It was good to get the first two games behind us because now we know the type of team we are capable of and we are excited to get some R&R in Sorrento, Italy.
Days 5 and 6: Rest and pretend to be Celtics
I started my first day in Sorrento by sleeping. With so much energy drained from us by tours and games, the jet lag finally sunk in and we all had to go back to sleep schedules.
We spent most of the first day hanging out by the pool and laughing. In the evening we went to another nice dinner and realized that Italy does dinner differently than we do. While we’re used to going out in groups for about an hour, a group dinner in Italy can span a three-hour, six-course meal, during which servers keep bringing food until we tell them to stop.
On the second day, many of us spent walking around the town square and trying gelato flavors. This was our most free day of travel, and we had nothing planned.
The highlight came later in the evening. The group decided to go back to the town square, and we were delighted to see that the vibrancy was at its peak as there were crowds of people singing, laughing and dancing in the streets.
As we were all above the average height of a common Italian, the fact that our entire group walked together in the town square drew some eyes. We started having people come up to us and ask if we were basketball players.
Buller coach Tad Matta on the final game of the Bulldogs’ European tour
Buller basketball coach Tad Matta wrapped up the Bulldogs’ final exhibition game in Athens.
Courtesy of Butler Athletics, Indianapolis Star
Played at first, we politely agreed and continued on our way. After a long time, we decided to have a little fun with the answers we gave to people who come to us and ask us. We started telling them we were the Boston Celtics.
Little did we know that the Boston Celtics were a huge fan favorite in Sorrento. Less than 10 minutes after the first Celtics answer, it seemed like we had people all around us trying to get pictures and autographs. It was an unforgettable time for our entire team.
It started to get out of hand as the crowd got bigger and more people started to look up. We knew that our cover would be blown and that there would probably be a riot when people found out that we were actually a professional NBA team.
We quickly took off from the square and headed back to the hotel for a rest and to lock up for our next adventure in Athens, Greece.
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