Qatar Leaves Scooterville....

The population of Taipei is (6) million. The number of scooters running around the streets has to be (5) million. It is an unbelievable sight. What is more unbelievable is who is driving them. From grandmas to grandpas to women in nice dresses to a family of (3) all on the same scooter, it is amazing how they zip in and out of traffic and no one ever seems to get hit. They are like swarms on the streets and it is very interesting.

For Coach Andrist and new staff, it was a great experience with the National team, playing (9) games in (9) days. It was a coming out party for several players that under normal circumstance, would not of had a chance to show what they can do. As a whole for the returning members of the National Team, it was not as beneficial because they had been here (4) straight years. Our motivation was certainly not as high as it needed to be. It was a detailed learning experience for our staff of preparation, and at times, we were not very well prepared. That won't fly in Japan.

A quick wrap of the tournament has Qatar finishing (3-6). Qatar lost five games by (8) points or less. Qatar led the tournament in freethrows attempted. Unfortunately, had the team made half of what they missed, Qatar would have finished (8-1) and won the Jones Cup title.

Qatar played in the premier game of the tournament on Saturday night, facing the home team China Taipei. It was (9,000) standing room only crazy Taipei fans and the roar as you came out of the tunnel was deafening. It was way too much fun. When the game concluded in a 75-70 Taipei victory (500) paper frisbee fans came spining onto the floor and it was quite the sight. It was the largest crowd of the tourney.

Taipei would be a wonderful city to visit for anyone. It is very clean and there are many things to do. Last night, Chris Westlake and I went to Taipei 101, the tallest building in the world. It has an observatory on the top and the making the building and the stabilizers for typhoons was very interesting. It also officially has the fastest elevator in the world as your ears are popping in both directions. We fly to Doha today so (11) hours back in the plane. OH JOY!!