My first ever basketball game....

This week, we had a lot more snow fall in and around the Cleveland area. On Tuesday, the first snow fall hit, and since I was at home that day, I was the nominated driveway shoveler. I got outside and saw about 6 inches of snow burying the driveway, and reluctantly started shoveling. My gracious neighbor saw me struggling with the wet snow, and walked across to my drive with his gas powered snow-thrower! He offered to help me and with a few quick walks up and down the driveway, he had banished all the snow from it! I was eternally grateful for the assistance, because that would have taken me at least 2 hours to with my trusty shovel! As you can see, the snow came to above my snow boot in the picture below!

Imagine my frustrations when I woke up early the next morning to head to work, to find out that another 4 inches of snow fell overnight! This is why I am thankful that Liesel and myself both drive SUV's as I could just reverse out of the drive over all the snow and head to work! When I got home from work, I did have some time to make my 2nd ever snowman in the USA!

A good friend of mine from church invited me to accompany him to a Cleveland Cavaliers basketball game on Friday night! Now the Cavaliers are one of the better teams in the NBA, and are the Eastern Conference champions last year, so they have a good reputation to defend. Now I have seen a number of basketball games on TV and they rated right up there with watching paint dry. It never seems to flow with all the stoppages and advert breaks...... however watching it LIVE is a whole new ball game! (excuse the weak pun). From the moment we walked into the arena, there was a incredible buzz in the air. There were places for you to design your own posters (free poster paper included) and also kids could get their hair painted in the team colors for free! There were other sporting celebrities on hand to sign autographs, not to mention the Cav's cheerleaders! The magic continued after we took our seats. Soon the team introductions began, and in true American showbiz-like style, it was quite a show - complete with pyrotechnics! Be sure to watch the video clip below this blog of the introductions! The game followed, and all the boring breaks that I saw on TV was filled with various pieces of entertainment in the area. From people in the crowd shooting hoops for prizes, to dancers and even a high school marching band! For the half-time show we had a Russian gymnast who performed aerial manoeuvres whilst landing on a narrow bar that two male counterparts held on their shoulders! So all in all, it was an extravaganza of high energy sport and entertainment, that kept my attention for the entire 150 minutes of the game! Thanks Ron for the awesome introduction to live basketball!



As a final note: another reason to love the USA.....
in the adverts that come with the Sunday papers, one in particular caught my eye. It was from the Target pharmacy and this is what it read:
FREE flavoring. Add one of many flavors such as cherry, watermelon or even chocolate-banana pie to any liquid medicine at no additional charge. Just ask. We can even add flavor to your over-the-counter medicines, too.

God bless America! Until next week - don't forget to watch the video clip below!