It has been a busy week for me. It began with me reading the hundreds of comments, emails, Facebook and MySpace messages related to my Athlete-Blogger conundrum post. Yes, I read every one. There were a ton of good responses so I thank everyone for that.

It was a busy week because I finally finished working on "Boom Got Them Three." Due to circumstances that are explained below, I wasn’t able to officially debut it here. If you’ve already seen it on YouTube, or on Vimeo in HD, then you already know that it’s the best of all the "Boom Tho" videos. If you haven’t, then it’s time you take a look at "Boom Got Them Three" immediately.

It was also a big week because, as you may already know, I decided to skip out on the D-League and on NBA training camp and sign with the defending French Pro-A league champion SLUC Nancy. The team is located in Nancy, France and will play in the Euroleague this season. I figure if I can’t play in the best league in the world, I might as well play in the second best league in the world.

I guess I was just mentally tired of dealing with the D-League and the mini-camps and coming away with nothing. It was time to go collect a serious paycheck and start living like an adult.

A day after I got the call, I had my two bags packed (I’ve been a two bag guy since I left Berkeley), and was on a flight direct from San Francisco to Paris. I spent the entire flight next to a French guy who spoke just enough English to tell me that his iPhone had been cracked so he could play Texas Hold ‘Em. He did come in handy, though — when I was given food that I didn’t like or understand, I just traded him. Boom.

When I touched down, there was a guy holding a sign that said "Denson" on it. I figured I was who he was looking for, but it wasn’t unreasonable to think that there was a "Denson" wandering the airport as well. I walked up to him and asked him if the sign was meant to say "Benson" on it. Clearly he didn’t speak English either. We stood next to each other for 20 minutes, him looking for "Denson," me looking for somebody to give me a clue what I was doing, until I finally asked him again. I made it simpler this time.

"Benson? Nancy?"

"Ahhh, Nancy," he started. "Qui, Nancy."

I was now in a van on the way to start the next chapter of my life.

When I arrived at my hotel, the assistant coach was waiting for me. He took me to the doctor’s office for a physical, then to the gym to watch the team finish their practice. All of this occurred while I was dead tired because I hadn’t slept in over 24 hours. He then told me that I had better learn how to drive a stick shift soon because the car I was about to be handed the keys to was a manual transmission.

I finally got into bed at 7 p.m. and fell asleep. I knew that if I was going to survive in the coming weeks I’d need to learn some French and I’d need to somehow teach myself how to drive a Peugeot in the crowded streets of a foreign country.

Rod Benson
is a Cal grad and former D-Leaguer who plays for SLUC Nancy, the reigning French league champion. When he’s
not busy stalling his Peugeot, he blogs one or two times a
week on Ball Don’t Lie. Read his archive, pay a visit to TooMuchRodBenson.com and always support the Boom Tho movement.

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