With the days getting shorter, temperatures falling to a point where you want to make that first visit to the sauna, and the first
shoppers getting ideas about Christmas gifts, a get away trip to exotic Gran Canaria could be more than enticing. When thinking about Gran Canaria, the first thoughts may be how warm the micro climate currently is, if there is ever a possibility of hot lava oozing down the side of a mountain on the island of volcanic origin,12 time wind surfer world champion record holder Bjoern Dunkerbeck giving a clinic on the court, tennis player Carla Suarez Navarro ever reaching the top 10 in the WTA rankings, or how many of the yearly 2,2 million tourists actually know where the island is geographically before going there. However for many one of the last thoughts that the team could actually have a professional basketball team is high. For many players also basketball isn´t the first thing that they think about when they have the island Gran Canaria in deep thought. “ I played against Gran Canaria with Polish team Turow some years ago. You think more about the water before basketball, but when you see the great atmosphere in the arena and the fans, you quickly know that that would be a great place to play at. I was surprised how close the gym was to the water”, stressed Skyliner guard Justin Gray. “When I think of Gran Canaria, I think of holiday and going to the beach, but then once you see the basketball atmosphere there, you see that there is a lot of basketball tradition there and feel great being able to play there”, stressed ex Bamberg forward Spencer Nelson.
Frankfurt Skyliners
Je’Kel Foster Connects With The Money Ball Shot And Unseemingly Impossible Offensive Rebound Leading FC Bayern Munich Past The Fraport Skyliners 58-57
When going to the beautiful Bavarian city of Munich for a day trip, one has a bundle full of delightful options to pick from like
going to the October Fest beer festival and seeing which German celebrities are drunk, experiencing if one is permitted entrance to the famous P 1 club and seeing what models are gawking at German soccer legend Oliver Kahn, hanging out that the pretty Marine place and counting how many different nationalities are taking photos in the gap of an hour, going to the Bavarian Film studios to witness how film is made in German style or just relaxing in the English garden and observing the beauty of the Chinese tower, but until recently the choice to go to a Sunday matane basketball game and see top class basketball has been more of a dream than reality. However ever since FC Bayern Munich has returned to the Beko BBL this season since the departure in 1974 when Germany won the World Cup and FC Bayern Munich soccer was starting its rise, it has become an option for basketball fans to go to games. What is nicer than to run elbows with an Uli Hoeness philosophizing about Thomas Muller against Mario Gotze, but never losing touch with the Davidson-Troutman battle underneath or sharing a Hot Dog with German soccer stars Bastian Schweinsteiger, Jerome Boateng or Holger Badstuber. Even though Basketball is slowly trying to become a house hold
name in Munich, it is other things that one thinks about first before thinking about dunking home a ball in the Audi Dome. “I like Munich, because you are so close to the mountains and lakes only 30 kilomters away while in Bamberg I had to drive 300 kilometers”, joked FC Bayern Munich youth coordinator Volker Stix. For 2008 cup winner Darius Hall who is in the later stages of his basketball career, it is like night and day to Quackenbruck. “I first think of the soccer team when I hear the word Munich. It is a great place for Americans, because you have such a diverse choice of eating places and movie places. Munich really has a lot to offer to Americans”, joked Darius Hall. “I like the parks where I can spend a lot of time with the kids and the beer gardens as well”, smiled Serb power forward Alexsandar Nadjefji.
FC Bayern Munich remained undefeated at home after they followed up their big Eurocup win against Benetton Treviso five days earlier with a big, but also very fortunate 58-57 win. It was a game where the defense intensity seemed to pick up with each quarter. Sometimes playing at home and coming off a big win gives a team that extra kick to make the right plays and win that luck in the waning minutes to help propel a team to victory. “This was a classic win for us. This was a tough win and a kind of knock down grind out win. We had the better luck at the end getting those offensive rebounds. However this was win we wanted to get more”, warned FC Bayern Munich center Darius Hall.
The Fraport Skyliners Want That First Time To Be Memorable In The Audi Dome Against FC Bayern Munich And Remove Their Leather Breeches
The first time is always very special like getting that first autograph of Lebron James after waiting for hours during a grueling wicked wet Miami hurricane, seeing your photo in the school newspaper making a 99 yard touchdown, getting that very first text message form that special someone that you thought never knew that you existed, driving for the first time in a corvette as a gift from dad after getting your license, getting that first pay check and treating your friends to dinner, or a young kid seeing his first Michael Jordan highlight DVD and enjoying his god like basketball skills. FC Bayern Munich belongs to the most famous sporting team names in Europe and have won enough titles in soccer to let German soccer legend Franz Beckenbauer who won 15 with the team forever be affiliated as Mr Bayern Munich. FC Bayern Munich is playing their first season in the Beko BBL which was made possible not by Beckenbauer, but the friendly guidance and assistance by Uli Hoeness who is the current president of the soccer club and they want to quickly leave a mark in the Beko BBL and European basketball community. The Beko BBL have had many highlights in the last years like increased attendance, BG Goettingen winning the Eurochallenge or Dashaun Wood playing one of the most dominating seasons since American Wendel Alexis did in the 90s with Alba Berlin, but for opposing players to see the red and white colors of Bayern Munich should especially give German players stimulating goose bumps as that first time playing against FC Hollywood should be memorable and cherished as if a player was playing that first time against the Boston Celtics, FC Barcelona or The New York Yankees. “It was great playing against FC Bayern Munich recently. They have a great winning tradition in that city and I wont forget that experience. A great first moment for me was playing my first Beko BBL game against The Fraport Skyliners. I thought a lot during that game of how last season I was playing for Bayer Leverkusen in the PRO B and now I am playing at a higher level and playing against some of the best talent in the world”, stressed Walter Tigers Tuebingen guard Josh Young. A famous phrase in German is “Die lederhosen aussziehen) which is a common expression that opponents want to remove the leather breeches of the FC Bayern Munich soccer players and this is something that the Fraport Skyliner German players may have on their mind as well.
Jon Leuer(Fraport Skyliners): A Good Shooter Needs That Quick Release To Be Successful
Jon Leuer is a 22 year old 208cm power forward from Long Lake Minnesota that is playing his first season for the Fraport Skyliners. He has great team mentality and defensive smartness. Knows how to score (and to gain fouls) in the low post, has a good outside shooting too. He played at Wisconsin from 2007-2011. In his senior year, he played 34 games averaging 18.3ppg, 7.2rpg, 1.6apg, FGP: 47.0%, 3PT: 37.0%, FT: 84.3%. He was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks (NBA,2rd(40). He spoke to German Hoops recently about basketball.
Are head coach Muli Katzurin and the players on the same page?
Yes we are. We are still trying to figure each other out. It hasn´t shown on the court yet. We just listen to what the coach says and try to get better in practice each day.
Who impressed you most with Alba Berlin?
DaShaun Wood impressed me the most. He did a good job controlling the tempo of the game. He has been one of the best players that we have played against. He does so much for that team. He distributes the ball so well and is a good defender as well.
How was it playing against Tony Gaffney recently? Do you think he can get back to the NBA?
Gaffney is a great player that does many good things for his team. He has the ability to play in the NBA, but it is tough because there are so many good players that want to play there. He just has to find the right fit.
Keith Simmons(Banvit, Turkey): I Hope The Fraport Skyliners Turn Their Season Around, Just Not Against Us In Eurocup Play
Keith Simmons is a 26 year old 196cm guard from Kingston, New York that is playing his fifth professional basketball season and fourth in Turkey. He played at Holy Cross (NCAA) from 2003-2007. In his senior year, he played 34 games: 16.9ppg, 5.8rpg, 1.9apg, 2.3spg, FGP: 49.7%, 3Pts: 34.9%, FT: 76.7%. In 2007-2008, he played for Kepez Bld Antalya (Turkey-TBL, starting five): 30 games: 16.2ppg, 5.7rpg, 2.1apg, 1.2spg, 2FGP: 56.8%, 3PT: 35.7%, FT: 73.5%. In 2008-2009, he played for the Deutsche Bank Skyliners Frankfurt (Germany-1.Bundesliga, starting five), injured in Oct.’08 and was off for 1 month: EuroChallenge: 8 games: 8.6ppg, 3.5rpg, 1.5apg; German League: 33 games: 11.3ppg, 4.4rpg, 1.4apg, 1.2spg, FGP: 59.6%, 3PT: 35.5%, FT: 74.1%. He has played for Banvit Basketbol Kulubu (Turkey-TBL) since 2009. Last season, he played EuroCup: 5 games: 10.0ppg, 3.4rpg, 1.6spg, FGP: 58.6%, 3PT: 30.0%, FT: 87.5%; Turkish League: 38 games: 10.4ppg, 5.1rpg, 1.8apg, 1.0spg, FGP: 54.4%, 3PT: 37.7%, FT: 76.4%. He spoke to German Hoops before the Eurocup game against the Fraport Skyliners November 15th.
You are playing your 5th professional basketball season and fourth in Turkey. Did Murat Didin have something to do with your love for Turkey?
I got my first chance in Turkey and since my first year here, Turkey has been special for me. I have had successful seasons with Banvit and have always come back. I like it here and want to continue to be successful here.
You have the Turkish citizenship now. How did that come about?
I am playing my fourth year here and last year the team approached me about getting the Turkish citizenship so the team can have an extra import player on the roster.
Torrell Martin Doesn´t Need To Display Traffic Dunks But Shows His Taste Of Ray Allen Leading Bremerhaven Past The Fraport Skyliners 63-55
3 years ago around this time, The New England Patriots were still recovering from their surprising and disheartening Super Bowl loss to the New York Giants, Keith Simmons was starting his first season with The Deutsche Bank Skyliners and thoughts of playing the next three years in Turkey were still far away and Marcus Slaughter was learning the hard way not to eat a curry hot dog before a basketball game. Three years ago the Eisaberen Bremerhaven were in the midst of a 16 game losing streak despite strong play from Marcus Slaughter who was the top Eisbaeren scorer in their first seven games. Now in 2011, the basketball world of the Eisbaeren Bremerhaven is solid as they rest in position six whereas the Fraport Skyliners basketball world in the last four years has been as radiant as the smile of actor George Clooney, the surfing success of American Kelly Slater or the hit making of French artist David Guetta, but this season the team is going through unexpected and unwanted growing pains as their losing streak grew to five games as they let the game slip out of their hands into the bushy white claws of the Eisbaeren Bremerhaven in the fourth quarter losing 63-55. Frankfurt played a lot better than in the last games, but sometimes during 
losing streaks, basketball luck and lady luck don´t always mesh. “Long losing streaks are always tough and they wear down a team mentally. Losing at the end was tough, because coach prepared us well and we showed a lot of improvement on defense. I remember going through a 13 game losing streak at Northwestern. We stuck together as a team and continued to work hard. We stayed tough and broke the streak”, stressed Skyliner guard Michael Thompson. Bremerhaven point guard Jamison Brewer who has 54 NBA games under his belt knows something about losing streaks. “I remember as a freshman at Auburn, we lost 12 games in a row and all in the last minute and three in overtime. If Frankfurt really has a team belief then they will dig down look in the mirror and come together as a unit. They have a good team and coach and if they continue to work hard, they will see positive results”, stressed Jamison Brewer. “I think that Frankfurt have a nice squad. Many teams go through a process of meshing and finding the right team chemistry. I think that Frankfurt will be fine”, warned Mike Smith.
Can Quantez Robertson Help The Fraport Skyliners Decharge Energy Bundle Torrell Martin From Sparking The Eisbaeren Bremerhaven With Traffic Dunks?
In cities like Hagen, Tubingen and Trier reaching the Beko BBL playoffs the last years has been as difficult as understanding why Kobe Bryant wants to be the Wil Smith of the NBA and possibly making his former on court nemsis Ron Artest his Jada Pinket , Hollywood actress Lindsay Lohan finding any type of positive publicity in the last year, Rocker Marilyn Manson without makeup for once actually being recognized for who he is and not hearing the annoying words “I know you, but can´t quite pinpoint the name”, or shock radio host Howard Stern refraining for a day from featuring sexy women in his show and rather focusing a show on the Chippendales. However since the Eisbaeren Bremerhaven moved up to the Beko BBL in 2005, they have reached the playoffs five out of six seasons and haven´t had to frequent the cafes, check out if its warm enough to swim in the North sea in May or take a trip to the zoo to see exactly how the cute Polar bears live when a basketball isn´t bouncing. The team has been very consistent finishing fourth twice, sixth once and two eight places getting into the back door of the playoffs. The only time that Bremerhaven didn’t reach the playoffs was in the 2008-2009 season where they finished in 18th place despite having basketball talent like Jared Reiner, Marcus Slaughter, Zygimantas Jonusas or Giordan Watson. Maybe its something in the air, the delicious fish dishes or just the coaching style of head coach Doug Spradley who has led the team into the Beko BBL playoffs the last two seasons and seems on a straight line back to the promised land as his club rests at position six at the moment. Torrell Martin leads his team to success and when he takes lift off into the zone, he approaches the rim like a combination of Russell Westbrock and Demar Derozan and seems like a malnourished human being wanting to get his seven course meal from chef Wolfgang Puck as a reward after dunking home the ball. If there is one player that can match his flights and or defend Martin then it is Quantez Super Tez Robertson who should be up to the challenge to keeping the American on the ground.
The Brose Baskets Bamberg Form The 31/11 Basketball Equation Breaking The Fraport Skyliners 97-63
After the crushing 83-57 loss to Alba Berlin last weekend where the only thing missing after the game was an unexpected 
bombardament of rotten eggs by Dashaun Wood to fuel the wound of the loss of the Fraport Skyliners, the club of Muli Katzurin had little time to recover and lick their wounds as they had to visit power house Brose Baskets Bamberg in which some less desirable things now might have been more desirable to encounter then having to experience Freak city now in this vulnerable time like Paris Hilton having to eat raw spinage instead of caviar, Kim Kardashian and NBA player Kris Humphries having to have a year subscription to annoying publicity about their doomed marriage or actor Charlie Sheen going to entertain people in his new Charlie Sheen mask and nobody believing it is really him. Nobody really expected the Fraport Skyliners to win in Freak city even though they had been the last team to do so June 6th 2010 in the Beko BBL finals as they got hammered 97-63. Despite it being so difficult to win there, no Skyliner wanted to be anywhere else. “I love to play in an atmosphere like this here in Bamberg. I get pumped up better for the game. Bamberg did a good job getting good start and getting fast break points and hitting their shots”, expressed Quantez Robertson. For Skyliner rookie Michael Thompson, he was given the nod to start at point guard and he didn´t seem at all overwhelmed by the conditions and felt at home in the Bamberg zoo. “I didn´t want to be anywhere else tonight. It was hard to play here, but all we can do is learn from our mistakes and take the positives and negatives. I was happy for the start, but I felt that I didn´t get the team ready on offense the way I could of”, expressed Michael Thompson. For Justin Gray, the atmosphere was more like a playful puppy then a vicious German shepherd. “The atmosphere was nothing like what I have seen in Greece. The toughest fans are in Greece”, warned Justin Gray.
Can The Fraport Skyliners Remove The Engraved Win from The Foreheads of The Brose Baskets Bamberg?
The Brose Baskets Bamberg have started off this season where they left off last season winning, winning, and winning and no team has been able to rip off the win from their foreheads as the club has been tearing apart teams as if a holy win slogan was plastered to their foreheads. Winning for Chris Fleming and his gang has become as common in Freak city the last two seasons as it is for actresses in general spreading for Playboy once their money runs out or their fame as Lindsay Lohan is going to do, kids going through neighborhoods getting some Halloween fun smashing pumpkins of NBA stars or a famous word by professional athletes, “I never threatened to kill my wife” as former Los Angeles Dodger Milton Bradley recently claimed being uttered time in and time out. So far this season, The Brose Baskets Bamberg have a perfect 5-0 record and have taken care of business in Beko BBL arenas as easily as the Green Bay Packers have in the NFL as the Bavarian team has outscored their opponents 464-323. It really seems like Beko BBL teams are as helpless against Bamberg as Paris Hilton is shopping at K-Mart. It seems like the only way to have a possible chance of beating Bamberg in the Stechert arena is if the opponent came with Dirk Nowitzki and Derrick rose in their baggage, Tom Brady allowing wife and model Gieselle Bundchen to do a sexy dance on the sidelines preoccupying the team or some tycoon let 1000 euro bills fall from the ceiling to cause a commotion and put a temporary dent in the rhythm of Bamberg. After the humiliating 83-57 loss to 8 time Beko BBL champion Alba Berlin, The Fraport Skyliners will have nothing to lose, but even if a Bamberg dares to underestimate an opponent, they still have the audacity to win. “Any team can beat Bamberg on a good day. The Skyliners have to go into the game remembering that Duesseldorf beat Bamberg last season and that anything is possible”, warned Alba Berlin assistant coach Mauricio Parra. There is a lot of fields and grass next to the home of Bamberg, so maybe Muli Katzurin and his team might be looking for some added green luck to take into the game. “ Well Bamberg is a class of it’s own but they still have to show up and play each night. With all the success they have they have a target on their back but teams have to play very well to beat them and maybe each Skyliner should carry a four leave clover in their pocket”, smiled TBB Trier guard John Bynum. The Fraport Skyliners do have a minor minor detail worth keeping in their mind as the last team to have won in Bamberg were the Deutsche Bank Skyliners in the 2010 playoffs. Players like Jimmy Mckinney, Quantez Robertson and Marius Nolte should use that as an added motivation.
DaShaun Wood And His Baldi´s Angels Solve How To Take Apart The Fraport Skyliners 83-57
Sometimes returning back to an ex stomping ground can be as painful for a professional athlete like it is for a once cute Jerry Maguire kid Jonathan Lipnicki getting blasted by Family Guy for growing into something less than attractive, Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler falling on his face in a Paraguay hotel room shower loosing a few teeth suffering from dehydration or ex NFL star Terrell Owens giving a topless try out for NFL teams and not getting a thumbs up from NFL legend Jerry Rice and Keyshawn Johnson. This weekend marked the return of Baldi´s Angels who are the three ex Skyliners Derrick Allen who will always have hero status in Frankfurt and 2004 Beko BBL champion head coach Gordon Herbert and 2011 Beko BBL MVP Dashaun Wood who left on less friendly terms sneaking out the back door to the German capital last summer. Charlies Angels is a popular American detective series from the 70s and had a successful movie a decade back who were a trio of hot women solving crimes, while the 8 time Beko BBL champion Alba Berlin have Baldi´s angels who solve ways to win on the court and had little difficulty getting run off the court, but moreover solved quickly how to lead their team to a demolition of their ex team 83-57. “ We three have fought hard to have a career in Berlin and now are in the process of bringing titles to Berlin. Herbert and Allen have played for
titles in Frankfurt and I being the current MVP, we hope that these three angels can come together and bring titles to Berlin”, warned Detroit native Dashaun Wood. “Those angels bring much to the table. Herbert leads them, Wood does so much setting team up and creating for himself and Allen is a tough player that brings energy and goes hard to the glass”, stressed 2011 Milwaukee Bucks Draft pick Jon Leuer. “Herbert, Allen and Wood are agreat combination. They play well together like basketball angels”, added Skyliner guard Michael Thompson. Second year man Bryce Taylor had to watch from the bench nursing a shoulder injury, but watched Baldi´s angels with enjoyment. “We have a great coach who is tough on us, but gets the best out of each player. Allen and Wood are our leaders and we know that we can count on them. They lead by example, but can be vocal. They solved a way to lead us to victory, but each guy on the team helped tonight. They didn´t need me tonight. We have a deep team. When a guy is out, others step up”, commented Bryce Taylor.
German Hoops 