Ball in Japan: 県民大会 and Drunken Huddles

県民大会

Every year in Japan, individual prefectures hold tournaments to see who the best team in the prefecture is. This year, I was lucky enough to be selected for my area's team. I've only recently been able to run like I used to, so the timing of the this tournament was excellent. I had a pretty good game, but we lost, in overtime. The first three quarters for me were good, but I choked hard in the 4th. One charging call, missed layup, and two missed free throws. That is six points. We lost by six. It's not all my fault though. I cannot tell you how many times I said this sentence, in Japanese:

Guard the three! Guard the THREE! Don't just let him shoooot! (スリーチェック!)

I know all the pics are of me. I wanted all of the pics, but apparently our photographer guy misheard me and just sent me the ones with me in them. Whatever. I also got a nice parting gift...in the 4th quarter, going for a rebound, I caught a nice elbow in the eye. After two days, it looks like this.

打ち上げ

The best part of tournament days, though, is the afterparty. Everyone got together and we just got lit. Here's the pics. Most are pretty blurry, so bear with me.

The guy in the yellow shirt is the team captain, りゅうじ. He's talking to かじわら about rebounding, I think.

Random shots.

I like this one. That's 岡崎さん with one of the girl's team members. She was crying, I think, because some of the younger girls on the team wouldn't listen to her when she was giving directions. They lost too. I thought it was awesome that she could cry about it at the bar after. These are real ballers right here.

My favorite shots are these, though...

25 people, standing outside of a bar, in a team huddle. My kind of people.