May 19, 2001
(Note: Arizona State men's basketball player Brad Nahra has been with the Sun Devils for the past three years. He has played a big role with the team the past three seasons, especially last year when Tanner Shell and Justin Allen were out for the season. Brad came to ASU to follow Rob Evans and his staff, as a friend of the Nahra family was a manager for Evans' Ole Miss teams in the mid-1990s. A high school star, Nahra is a solid player who will be one of three seniors on next year's team, along with Chad Prewitt and Awvee Storey. Brad will share some things from the Australian trip every couple of days. Brad also has had the benefit of some great travel since coming to ASU. In addition to the usual Pac-10 jaunts, he has been to Maui, Puerto Rico, Texas, Utah and North Carolina three times in his three years previous to the Australia trip.)
With our carry on bags stowed in the overhead bins and our legs neatly folded underneath our seats, the plane lifted off short after 1 p.m. Tuesday afternoon from Los Angeles Airport. We had already been up about six hours, as we had to be at the airport by 7:15 a.m. After getting through customs, we were ready to board our flight to Australia which would last 14 hours and 40 minutes. What exactly you do for that long of a period of time was a question. You can only read and watch so many movies. I noticed when we got on the flight they were going to show five movies. Five movies and we would still not be there. We listened to Coach Pennell's stories about what life was like when he was playing overseas. Only 14 hours to go.
At the beginning of the flight they give you socks, a blindfold and headsets. Headset for the movies, blindfold so you can nap and socks if your feet get cold but you don't want to put on your shoes.
After a viewing of The Wedding Planner and an interesting meal of meat and vegetables I decided to take a nap. As I was about to slip into unconsciousness a group of rowdy travellers from Michigan migrated to our section in the back and it woke me up. The group of women and some of our players were having a good time talking. Sleep would have to wait. Ten hours left.
After reading a little and watching another bad movie, I decided to walk around a bit. The book I read was Ricky Reilly's book with has his best stuff. It is awesome. I read the whole thing and then gave it our sports information director Doug Tammaro who read the whole thing. It is that good and besides, what else are you going to do for 14 hours. The nap would have been a good idea, but after bumping into someone and spilling a cup of water on a passenger I decided it was time to return to my seat. Big Red (Chad Prewitt), J-Bird (Justin Allen) and Kyle (Dodd) and a couple of other guys played a heated game of UNO. Five hours to Sydney.
I finally fell asleep simply because my eyes would not work anymore. We had a good travel schedule in that we flew in sunlight and when we got to Australia it would be night, so really our pattern was the same. Most of the players did not speak much the last couple of hours. The mood had changed as being up for nearly 20 hours was beginning to take its toll. All of a sudden a jolt woke me up. We were in Sydney at 8:30 p.m., which was 3:30 a.m. Phoenix time. But then Donnell Knight reminded us we still had to fly to Melbourne. Another place, another two hours. Oh well, what is the difference. After nearly 24 hours we were almost there. The next flight was uneventful and quick. And we arrived at our hotel at 1 a.m.
Our first day began with a huge breakfast at the hotel. After eating the previous four meals on an airplane, we feasted and then had a bus tour of Melbourne and the Queen Victorian Market. The Market had everything from fruit to authentic kangaroo skin hats. May of the players picked up gifts and souvenirs for friends and family while others picked up discounted hockey jerseys. Kyle got his hometown Los Angeles Kings. I got a Boston one (the ?B? stands for Brad) while Coach Pennell got a Philadelphia one. Other guys picked up cheap jewelry. After nearly an hour and a half we boarded the bus back to the hotel to get some rest for the first game.
We played our first game on Thursday night in a small gym just outside of Melbourne. The 30-point victory helped get the tour started on a positive note and also marked the return of Justin Allen. Justinand his jump shotare back in uniform after nine months. It means a lot to us.
On Friday morning the team visited the Old Melbourne Gaol (jail). The building, which was the site of 135 hangings, gave us an interesting look at 19th century prison life. The rest of the afternoon was spend walking around Melbourne shopping and taking pictures. Our game was an early game, a 6:30 p.m. tip, and we had to leave by 4:30. The team we played was good and it was a solid win for us. Tanner and Justin are sure going to make a difference next year. And since we didn't play on Saturday, Coach had a later curfew for us, so we checked out Melbourne.
Saturday morning the team went to the Melbourne Observation tower which overlooked the whole city. It was a great thing to see. Then came the Australian Rules Football Game.it was great. We got general admission tickets and pretty much the whole team went. We stayed for the whole game and after they allow everyone on the field to play around. There must be a 1,000 people and 1,000 footballs flying around after the game. We then walked back to the hotel after, which took about a half-hour but it was cool out. It was like a fall day in the midwest.
We will be up early on Sunday, as we take a flight to Sydney and must leave early for our game as it is more than an hour and half away.