Happy holidays to everybody and welcome to “Bobby’s World” here on yardbarker.com. This was the longest break I took between blogs and now I’m back! During that down time, a lot of people were asking me when was I going to write my next entry. So I took that as people are really looking forward to my writings and opinions, thanks. Three weeks isn’t really that long though, I must admit I did catch the lazy writer syndrome. If you think about it, writing is like having homework to do, so lets just say I didn’t feel doing homework. So here is your Christmas blog/present from me to you since I’m pretty sure no more writing until 2010.

Let me start off saying that I get to home go for Christmas! Obviously not as long as I want (5 days) but I can’t complain I guess. The way I have designed my trip is that I’m going to go Seattle to see my baby girl first and then Los Angeles to see my family for Christmas. I decided to do the majority of my Christmas shopping this year online while in Italy. I figured by doing this I get to relax a little more once I’m back instead of running around with my head cut off looking for gifts for everybody. Even with that part done, I still have so much on my “to do list” to get accomplish while I’m back. I cannot explain in words how excited I am to see my baby girl. I haven’t seen her since August and I know she has grown so much and developed her personality even more now, daddy’s coming baby….

If you have been reading my blogs consistently, you know that my team started off on a very slow note. Since then, we have gotten out of that hole we put ourselves in and made it back to .500 record mark. We did win 5 games in a row (combined from both leagues that were in) and I played great during that streak as well. I come to realize even more now that I just got to think, “f@*k it” and go do what I need do while on the court with this team, and as long as we win nobody can say nothing to me. I’m here to help the team win and play good at the same time. At the end of the day, nobody here can stop me but me from doing that. Our overall win streak did come to an end when we lost our last game in Ukraine (Dec. 15) in eurocup play. Even with that lost, when we return from our Christmas break to conclude pool play. With two games left (1 away and 1 home), if we win both we will win our pool and advance to the playoffs, so we control our own destiny with that situation. In the Italy league, we still have won 3 straight wins and feel good going into the break with ¾ of the season still remaining.

Even though I had a short trip to Mariupol, Ukraine; I did find out a couple new things while there. One, it takes a whole day to get there and the same going back. We flew from Rome to Kiev (the main city in Ukraine) because there isn’t no direct flights to that city from Rome and once we landed there we had to get our bags wait 4 hours to check-in again to fly to Mariupol (which was another 2hrs in the air). Once we landed in Mariupol we had to bus another hour and a half to the hotel. I’m starting to think maybe that had something to do with why we loss, too tired from traveling. Second thing, when we were out and about in the city I decided to exchange “only” 20 euros (European money) into the Ukraine local money to maybe buy something for somebody or even myself. I was startled by how much money the lady gave me back. She gave $240 Ukraine dollars back and it wasn’t a mistake either. The money there seems to be very cheap and my teammates and I were discussing how easy it would be to save money if you played there (which I still wouldn’t unless it was ridiculous amount of money). The third thing I found out was how cold it was there. The temperature was close to -10 during the day and dropped to around -17 at night. I would prefer to be way too hot rather than too cold any day of the week. The last thing I found out while there was where most of the worlds fur jackets are located and being worn. Looking at the locals living their lives from the window of our bus, I saw every single woman with some kind of mink, chinchilla, fox, squirrel, beaver, coyote, raccoon, rabbit, muskrat, lamb, otter and weasel fur jacket on. It didn’t stop there; they had every different fur color too. Their fur jacket game is legit there, if I every get one for somebody I definitely know where to go now.

I May Be Wrong But I Doubt It

Now, I would like to discuss (for no specific reason, just a random thought that was going thru my mind and wanted to elaborate on it) what consist for a person to be called a “groupie”. Many people like to toss this word around sometimes to freely (women hating on women, men hating women, and vice versa), while others don’t use it enough in certain cases. First of all, having a crush on a certain celebrity, athlete, certain field a person works in or whatever catches your eye doesn’t exactly make you a groupie. What may makes you one in my eyes is how far of an extreme your willing to go and take to get what you want. A lot of women (some men too but this isn't about us, its for the ladies this time around) don’t know where the fine line is, but this is where I’m going to help out. Another clarification, a groupie that doesn’t mean you’re a hoe either, but you can definitely be both if you allow yourself to be. Some girls know they are a groupies and don’t care. Since they already acknowledged themselves as one (or not one), just continue doing what you’re doing, live life and be happy. This is actually pertaining to those few misinformed women who honestly don’t know or think they fit in that infamous category “jersey chaser”.

Ladies, I know some of you have wondered and end up baffled because you don’t “feel” like a groupie so you think you aren’t one. Well, if you ever had to question yourself at any point this means you definitely showed some “groupie” tendencies. The answer to this matter isn’t going to be precisely black and white either; there will be some grey areas. I can only provide my outside the box point of view of being an athlete to help you come to that crucial conclusion. Hopefully once I’m done guiding you into the right direction, those grey areas you can fill in finally and most importantly with honestly. If you ask me, there is nothing wrong with being a groupie, I can’t judge a person's choice of lifestyle (I do slip up sometimes though); I do know that I can at least respect a person who can be honest with them self and be real about how they want to live their life at the moment (or maybe it was in the past).

I "always" here women tell me this phrase, “ Nothing but athletes try to talk to me”. Ok, I really find it hard to believe that only athletes can only hit on a woman, especially if they’re attractive enough. But, lets just say only athletes do hit on you (which I doubt), my question is where are you at when this is taking place? I’m willing to bet my whole life savings it was in a club more than not. I know I "never" heard this line from a woman before, “I go to bible study every Tuesday and nothing but athletes keep hitting on me”. Ladies, nobody in the history of the world has the unknowing sense of being placed in the same environment with athletes or celebrity’s everyday of their life inadvertently. You know where to go to find them or be around them, lets stop the bs for a minute. Women/groupies know where to go to meet men/athletes and the first place is the club. Especially if an athlete is hosting a party at a certain club on Saturday night, some women make sure to get together their girls to go out that night, I wonder why (you know why, keep it real)? This is what I call a “level 1” groupie. A girl who isn’t going to be around athletes all the time but like being in their presence every so often. The next classic line I hear is, “That’s all I’m attracted to”. I guess you can’t control what you’re attracted to (or is that just another excuse) right? Athletes for the most part tend to have nicer bodies, are taller than the average man and can make a nice living playing sports. Regardless of those features athletes do present, there is an enormous difference between what you like and what you want in your life, all that is a mind set which you can change at anytime. Every women has dated somebody who wasn’t as athlete at some point, so now this is all your attracted too? Maybe because that’s all you want to be attracted to. If you’re starting to feel like a groupie a little bit, don’t feel bad. There are more levels on being a groupie or how smart you decide to hide it.

We just talked about “product placement” being level one of a groupie, now were going to talk about how aggressive you are when around athletes (2nd and 3rd level). The third saying I always hear from ladies is once they decide to go a club, “I go to the club to have fun not meet people”. Ok, that’s what you tell yourself and others until you get there and then it’s a different story (you call an audible like in football). Some women/groupies play it smart and wait to see if the men/athletes will approach them to start conversation (level 2, the sneaky ones you get a asterisk), well played I must say. You play the game smart and that’s how it should be, make them come to you if they want you. You made the effort to get dressed up, put make up on and get to the club tonight, now the men/athlete must do their part. On the other hand, some groupies (level 3-4) aren’t for the games (and the competition with other women) and let it be known that their interested in your services queit fast. They will confront you, walk past you constantly, stay in your vision to try to keep your attention on them and even physically grab you (my booty has been sexuality assaulted many times in the club). Now, what else is there to do to get a higher level on the groupie scale? That’s easy. Bragging on athletes you know (or been with) is another level increase added to the ones we already talked about. Opening your mouth is only going to bring harsh criticism from others; keep your business to yourself ladies. Another level boost is the group you decide to go with to find men/athletes. I know everybody heard the saying, “birds of feather flock together”. A woman who isn’t a groupie will not go out (or at least not as much) with a group of girls who are known for being “jersey chasers” because she knows people are going to think she is too and that’s the last thing she wants people to think about her.

To fully decide what level of a groupie (if you are one) you may be, consistency is now determined. Everybody changes or have different stages in their life depending on what life throws at you, so I understand what you did may not be what you are now. If you just found out you are a groupie, I’m not encouraging you go to relay the message to everybody (unless for some odd reason you want too). I’m writing this for your own personal insight (just being stupid too) on how you go about things just in case you wasn't educated enough. I repeat, do not ask me if I was talking about you because I’m speaking in general to all people of the world. Not just one person, if the shoe fits Cinderella don’t blame me. Remember it’s your choice of life style at the end of the day, do whatever makes you happy. Just don’t be in denial because you don’t like title that comes with it. I think this entry makes up for the time I was away don't you think? :-) Merry Christmas and Happy New Years everybody, see ya in 2010…

*I was rushing a little bit so there may be some grammar errors in this entry. So don't be talking trash telling me I can't spell or didn't explain a thought I wrote well enough, Im done getting graded for writing ok*