Jeita Grotto and Shrimp

From Oct. 13-09

I'm back at the internet cafe here in Beirut. After a while you hardly notice the incessant horn honking taking place outside on the streets. It's part of the culture. Like baklava(Lebanon's famous pastry). But horn honking is less fattening.

Three nites ago we played towering Sporting Club. They started 7-0 Joe Vogel (Colorado State), 6-10 guy maybe named Matt Frazier (an adept 3-point shooter) and a 6-7 local up front. Soon their 7-3 Serb also entered the fray. They should have beaten us by exactly one hundred points but it escapes the attention of their coach that it would be wise to play an inside power game. Especially as we go with Lamond at 6-7, Mohsen at 6-4, and Ibrahim at 6-1. Our first two subs off the bench are 5-7 and 5-6. We don't match up so well with the teams here. Anyway, after a bad start in which we were down 14 after first quarter we whittled their lead to 9 at the half. I was quite surprised, with about five minutes remaining, to see us up by six. But we couldn't sustain it and lost by 7.

Their Lebanese coach is regarded as a genius because he's won the league several times. People fail to notice that he has all the best players. He may not notice it either. They have a huge payroll. I have a huge paunch--but hiding it well by wearing dark trousers. The paunch is due to baklava. I have already explained that horn honking is calorie free. In this game Lamond had 30 points and 16 rebounds. Our pick-up Yank only played 14 minutes...I thought I'd win or lose with our local guys.

The next afternoon I went with Shaikh Mohd, Hussain, Lamond, and fat-face asst. to see sights. The Shaikh hired car and driver. We first went to the Jeita Grotto. A grotto is a cave. Soon my tummy will be conCAVE but right now there are too many desserts available at every meal. I'd been to these caves some ten years ago and it was nice to visit again. They're quite spectacular and one of them sports a lake. We got into electric boats to ride around for a while and you had to duck your head to avoid having a stalagmite or a stalagtite take it off. Can anyone remember which of these goes up and which go down?

There was also a wishing well down there and the Shaikh gave me a coin to toss into it. I tried my best to palm the coin but he watched me intently. So finally I had to fling it. Then he flung one...voicing his wish out loud: that we would win the league in Bahrain. My wish, unfortunately didn't come true, because when I later checked my bank acct. his funds had NOT been transferred in to join mine.

After that we mosied into Junieah--the Christian area and quite a bit nicer than other places in and around the city. There we were joined by Mohd's brother, Shaikh Rashid. He'd brought his wife for a medical checkup and to see us play. Soon, we all drove back to the new area of Beirut called Solidaire (use your French pronunciation here) and ate at one of the many trendy (and expensive) sidewalk restaurants. It was Lebanese food and as good as I've ever had. I gorged myself with many jumbo grilled shrimp...and everything else.

We were joined by Abdul Rahman who is a Bahraini soccer official who was in Beirut to judge, for FIFA, a couple of local refs. He's retired and that's what he does now. Like Shaikh Mohd, he went to St. Edwards U. in Texas, while Rashid went first to the U. of Cairo (a mere 200,000 students he said...a city unto itself) and took a degree in architecture; he then went to Howard U. in Wash D.C. and took a master's in City Planning. Perhaps he'll plan a city near you soon; you just never know. Guess how many Bahrainis were at St. Edwards at this time? Only 300. That astonished me (one shrimp fell out of my mouth and made a getaway; they were quite fresh and just barely grilled). They told how a guy at American U. of Beirut here moved all of his students to Texas when the civil war here broke out and they soon had hundreds of Middle Easterners at schools all over the Lone Star State. These guys actually talk about chili rellenos and such things.

Abdul Rahman talked also of the several times when irate soccer fans lusted after his life's blood after a home team loss, and he and the other officials had to hunker down in the stadium under police protection for many hours before being able to leave. Sport is a wonderful vehicle with which to bring about world peace.

Rashid picked up the bill, which had to be several hundred bucks. He didn't blink. He and his brother are quite affable and unaffected. Had the bill been presented to me, I would have blinked. Just before passing out.

Last nite we played undefeated team from Tunisia and they had lots of 6-9 and 6-8 types to go with a Senagalese and a 6-9 Russian. They jumped on us early and I was pleased to only lose by 15. Lamond got roughed up by their players and lost his composure; his first bad game. Fouled out after playing maybe 25 minutes. Our guest American didn't play too much or too well.

Fortunately, Hussain has moved our departure up to tomorrow instead of two days later. Today is dedicated by our players for shopping. Arabs can shop. Ready: SHOP!!! (look attim Go!)

Coach Grady