That's Real Good Pant...

Here in Denmark most cans and bottles are bought with a Pant (deposit) added to the cost of the product. I think there are just three levels A at 1 Kr, B at 1.5, and C at 3 Kr. Cans are under the A level so when you buy a case of beer or cola in Denmark you get slapped with the extra 24 Kr. which is $5. Now, you can't possibly keep all of these cans after consumption. It's just not reasonable to think you are going to get 100% of your deposit. Between taking some to parties, some to the gym, some as roadies, some are just going to get lost in the shuffle. So all I'm trying to say here is that when you are able to save some of them from the trash, that's what I like to call "good pant." Every time I bring some back to the store it's like getting a small gift. Granted a small gift you paid for, but either way "good pant" will put a smile on your face. Just saying, "Oh man that's good pant right there" makes me laugh!

Last weekend we faced off against Gentofte, who were technically ranked higher than us even though in our only meeting we won 3-0. We came in confident that we could win again, especially at home. After the previous weeks loss to Middelfart we knew that we needed this win to get back on track to become the team to beat in the Elite division. Game 1 we came out really sharp, we really did most things perfect. It seemed like it was going to be a nice easy match where we were just going to take over from start to finish. We won game 1 easily they never really threatened at any point. I think we won the first set by 10 points. My arm was feeling great. I don't know if it was the days off that week, the swim the day before, or just my back feeling better so my shoulder hasn't had to do all the work but it was nice getting some pop back into the ball.

Game 2 they made some changes, by subbing in some new bodies. This seemed to help them out a bit because, well we lost game 2. It was fairly close most of the way through the set but I think we had some passing break downs especially with some float serves and they got on multiple point runs that we never could recover from.

Game 3 we got back into it had strong serving and a strong side out that allowed us to cruise to a fairly easy set win if I remember correctly. We had a decent handle on what they were doing, and really I think they just made too many attacking errors.

Game 4 we had the float serve passing blues again. Same story multiple point runs from the same guys that got us in the second set. We expected Gentofte to fold in the fourth set and they didn't they wanted to win just as much as we did.

Set 5 uh oh not again! This was a tight one back and forth. We reached 8 first for the side switch. We were up 11-10 when we made a serving sub. Søe our outside hitter/libero/vocal leader extraordinaire came in and hit two epic terror floats at a passing sub which were both practically aces, free balls coming back to us. Just two huge plays at the end of the game turned it in our favor and we didn't even for a second let them back. We finished 15-11 and got the much needed victory at home!

The night after was a Jule (xmas) party at the Marienlyst Centret where Nelly, Joe, Travis, Joakim, and I had to basically work as bouncers. The start of the night was easy. We just make sure everyone had a wrist band that entered. A few knuckleheads tried to break the rules, but no big deal. We were pretty much there for after dinner to make sure that nobody got out of control and started fights or anything. This party was from 5 pm-1 am and the booze was flowing the whole time, so yea, it could get interesting. There were 4 incidents spread throughout the night that kept it really entertaining for us.

1- A table full of guys wearing red party hats had been drinking in the party room at our gym since the afternoon. They were all over the place but the red hats made them easy to spot and keep an eye on them. One of the old guys in the group was so hammered some of the guys had to get a taxi for him. Understandable. But the funny part was the guy was using the parking lot as a toilet with his pants around his ankles and most of his aim was off. Yeah hopefully he had on those liquid resistant Dockers!

2- Guy 1 by the bar gets pushed. Guy number 2 grabs and holds the lapels of guy 1's sport coat. We sweep in. The guy who is using a kung fu grip on guy 1's suit jacked is doing this weird intense staring contest move, and still won't let go of the coat. There is all 5 of us surrounding them both, but there is nothing we can really do. The guy just will not let go of the jacket or the bizarre stare. This goes on for what seemed like minutes either way it was a ridiculously long time to do whatever he was doing. The only way we got it to stop was someone from behind basically started choking the jacket holding guy. Not one of us but one of his friends believe it or not I started prying his fingers off one at a time. I got to the second finger while this guy is turning purple from being choked from behind before he finally lets go. It was totally insane but both guys were fine after that.

3&4 - The start of this story leads to the climax of the night. Joe and I went to take a break and were just hanging out in our locker room when I got a text from Nelly saying, "Boston Tea Party in 5, 4, 3..." I was like uhoh Joe we have to get in there. This was a ridiculous code word we were using to say "start taking people down." It was a joke but he really was having a problem with one of the guys in the gym. And of course it was the guy who was the biggest man/bear/pig who we just knew was bound to start something. I think he had some words with the bartender so Nelly and the rest of the guys stepped in and I think the man beast got a little aggressive but he calmed down ok for a bit. This is a 3&4 because the fourth and final part I guess you could say stemmed from this first incident. It had to do with this guys co-workers or buddies who were all at the same table. Some of these guys start pushing we come in and right away the guys started acting as if we were doing something wrong we were just asking them to please sit back down, let it go, or you will be asked to leave. They pretty much controlled themselves for another hour. One hour later two guys from the same table start another fight at the bar with the bartender. The bartender motions over to us saying these guys are out of here. We just say ok guys that's enough let us show you out. This however was not so easy. The guys refused to walk and when they did they kept trying to make it back to the bar to fight the bartender. They would be walking straight then just start bending their path in a not so sly way which was more back to the bar then to the door. These guys were really drunk and not at all physically intimidating but they just wouldn't cooperate. It took probably 30 minutes to get the guys outside. But even when they were outside they still wouldn't leave. We just stood in the doorway and made a wall and they still tried to keep just walking in. Picture a remote control toy car just driving straight into a wall and bounce off and do it again and again. This is what they were doing but really with no real force to break through or really even break our balance at all. It was really funny. Then some of thier friends came over and started saying we are provoking them when literally all we were doing was making a wall at the door and saying you cannot come back in. More and more of them started showing up and the ones that were still in the party started getting more angry with us and started threatening us. So we just started saying ok you are out too. Get your coat. No big deal the party was over in 20 minutes anyway they were just being ridiculous. Then out of nowhere some dude starts trying to swipe at me from outside. He tries more of a slap but he misses thankfully and by this point we can see that we might need to call the police because these guys really won't leave. We reached our last resort. We had to phone the police. I had to hand my phone to someone because I couldn't tell you how to call the police, even still I don't know. 112 or 211 but now is that for emergencies or for everything? No idea. I had to leave the scene anyway because these guys were really getting on my nerves and I began to not help the situation. The end was nice though. The guy who tried to slap me got taken to the ground hard by the cops, so he was obviously a goof ball.

All in all a great night though. We got to take a ton of food home, had some beers, had a little excitement, but I think a bouncer is not really for me.

This week we play Middelfart who have been a thorn in our sides this season. Our only two loses in the regular season have come at their hands. This time around it is in the Pokal Cup Semifinals which is single elimination so this is win or go home. This is a big game arguably more so than the loss three weeks ago because winning the Pokal Cup is something everyone wants to achieve. A regular season loss, while a set back, doesn't eliminate you from winning the Danish championship so this one we really want to win. We are luckily at home again and this time we hope it goes in our favor!

I know this was a long one but I missed last weeks post so hope this makes up for it. If anyone can actually get through it consider that achievement "a good pant!" Hej Hej