Getting seats into the game last night was the craziest thing I have experienced to this date.  Although we have enjoyed all of the moments here, our one complaint was that the seating in each of the venues was general admission.  Because of that, we had to work pretty hard to get our seats for each game, including sprinting up the stairs, pushing through crowds and saving rows of seats by spreading ourselves across the seats we needed.  It would have been really cool to have a small section set aside for friends and family in each venue, but I guess hindsight is 20/20.  We did get really lucky though because every game we were close enough that the guys could find us right when we got into the venue.

To everyone at home, if you haven’t seen the games, you should be so proud of any team member you have rooted on.  Seeing wheelchair basketball on the international level is something really special, and I know we will never forget this experience.  To go from watching games at home where you get your pick of a seat for the games to coming to the Paralympics and fighting for seats, it was an awesome experience.  Mieko and I cannot tell all of you how grateful we are for all of you following our journey, and keeping your comments coming for the guys.  I know they will enjoy all of it so much more as soon as they arrive home and can see all of the comments that have piled up on the website!

Just a reminder to everyone who has been checking our pictures, we will be posting game photos by Monday September 22^nd (possibly earlier, depending on how we are recovering from jet lag).  We have to wait to post the photos because of the blogging rules set out by the International Paralympic Committee. 

One final very special note, Mieko and I would like to send our thanks to her Dad for helping us keep our blog going while we were in China.  Without him, nothing could have been posted, including game scores, so thank you so much to him for helping us with everything!

We hope everyone has been having fun keeping up with our adventures, and following Team USA in Beijing, China!

Mieko and Kelli

“We’ve been through an extremely emotional few days,” said Eric Barber (Whitewater, Wis./Chicago, Ill.). “We were pretty spent and hats off to Great Britain they played an incredible game. This wasn’t the result we wanted, but I’m proud to be part of this team. This is the best team I’ve ever played on.”

The defense the U.S. had relied on so heavily throughout the tournament couldn’t handle the Brits’ big three of Terry Bywater, Simon Munn and Jon Pollock. Bywater lit up Team USA for 32 points, Munn dropped 20 points and Pollock finished with 15 points, including two key 3-point baskets that helped put the game out of reach.

For the USA, Joe Chambers (Whitewater, Wis./Davis, Calif.) scored 25 points, Jeremy Lade (Janesville, Wis.) totaled 15 points and Mike Paye (Warren, Mich.) also hit double digits with 10 points.

“Our guys put our hearts on the line,” said Lade. “We tried to fight back as well as we could, but Great Britain was just too good tonight. We’ll keep our heads up and come back strong.”

Australia defeated Canada to win the Gold Medal; the score in the Gold Medal game was Australia 72, Canada 60.  Canada takes the Silver Medal.

Though these weren’t the results that the USA team, family, and friends wanted to see, we should all be proud of how our guys performed.  This was a tournament where any of the top four teams could have ended up in any of the top four spots.  Even though our guys wanted more, they showed that they are all among the best players in the world.

As always you can see team and individual statistics from these or any other games in the 2008 Paralympics, at http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRMP/ENG/Schedule/WB.shtml by clicking on the “results” for that game.  You can also see the cumulative statistics for these teams up through, but not including, these final games on the same web page by clicking on the “Start List” for the Bronze Medal or Gold Medal game.

This will not be the last post to this site for the Beijing Games, make sure to come back to hear more from us, including pictures and other things that we couldn’t post during the Games.

We did get to see they guys after the game, and we checked out more of the Olympic Green.  We went into the Omega shop, which had a bunch of time keeping pieces from the past Olympics.  In the back, they were selling a bunch of watches, and when Eric and I were walking around, an Omega representative offered a trip up to the VIP lounge.  We obliged, and good thing we did! 

The lounge upstairs was for athletes and their families, and we definitely got the VIP treatment!  Joe, Mieko, and Jana joined us upstairs for some free drinks.  We got to sit outside up on a balcony, relaxing with a direct view of the water cube, birds nest and all of the foot traffic in the Olympic Green.  After about 30 minutes, we were informed there would be some light snacks served.  We were all pretty hungry and had been up since 5:30am without much in our stomachs, so that went over well.  They served sandwiches, a noodle salad, chicken, and fruit…much more than a light snack to us!  The VIP lounge was an awesome experience and we all wished we had known about it before, because there are VIP lounges at every shop in the Olympic Green!

After we sent the guys off to the Paralympic Village, we came back to the hotel to rest for a while.  We woke up refreshed, and decided to head back to the silk market, this time with Jana! 

I don’t think there is any description that could really give you all the feeling of what the silk market is like.  Each floor has aisles and aisles and aisles of a certain item.  One floor is all clothing, another floor is all silk products, the next is purses and bags, and yet another is jewelry.  Every aisle has so many vendors with the same product, and you just have to choose who you want to barter with.  If you can’t choose, don’t worry, someone is likely to try to pull you into their space to try to sell something to you. 

We learned very quickly that bartering is something you have to work at.  If you are a good actor, you will be a good barterer!  The young people in charge of their booths could probably win an Academy Award.  Their first offer to you for any item is always WAY TOO HIGH.  For example, Jana was going to buy an Ed Hardy t-shirt, and the first offer the lady said was for $178 American dollars.  We got a good tip from our tour guide at the Great Wall.  She told us to come back at 1/10^th of what they first offer.  So we worked with the person at the t-shirt stand and got her to come down to the price we wanted.

When you barter in the Silk Market, do not ask how much something is unless you really want it.  Once the price is out in the open, the bartering begins!  If you walk away after they give you the price, they will chase you down, because everyone knows the price is negotiable.  There is nothing in the States that is even comparable to the Silk Market.  You pick your price, and if you are good enough at bartering, you could pay a very low price for some goods that are quite pricy at home (although there is no guarantee that any brand name is legit, in fact most items are fakes).  I don’t know if I covered everything, but it is really hard to describe what it is like to walk through the silk market.

On Sunday, we knew the guys would be playing Canada at 9:30pm Beijing time, and we wanted to make sure we got good seats to cheer the guys on, so we left our hotel around 12:00pm to have some lunch and hop on the subway to the Olympic Green.  We did some shopping at the Olympic shop and certainly bought enough souvenirs for everyone on our list.  We also bought a few more American flags to help us save seats at the venue. 

The first Semi-final game was between Great Britain and Australia, and it started at 7:00pm.  Our tickets allowed us in for that game, so we waited in line starting at 5:30.  The lines at each tent were enormous!  Once the tents to take tickets opened, it was a race to the entrance.  Luckily, once I got into the venue, I got behind an Australian and followed him down to the closest seating.  Mieko and I got all of our flags out and roped off all the seats we needed for our game, and then finally took a breath!  We definitely got some great seats, and then the Canadians started filing in and ended up being right next to us.

We heard the feed from Universal sports blacked out in the second overtime from a few friends and family, so if you hadn’t heard, Team USA fell to Canada in the second overtime 69-62.  If you want to look at stats, here is the page to go to: http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRMP/ENG/INF/WB/C73/WBM400203.pdf

Although the game didn’t have the outcome we expected or hoped for, we are still so proud of the guys and will continue following them through to the bronze medal game.  Team USA will face Great Britain on Tuesday September 16^th at 5:00pm Beijing time.  For those of you at home who haven’t figured out the time difference yet (we struggle too!) that is Tuesday morning at 4am central time, 2am Pacific time!

We hope you will all be cheering the guys on, we will definitely be resting our voices on our day off and then right back at it on Tuesday.  Also of note, our women’s team will be playing Germany in their gold Medal game Monday night at 9:30pm Beijing time.

Thanks for keeping up with us on the blog, we all appreciate the support you are sending over our way!

GO USA!

Kelli and Mieko

The bronze medal match between the United States and Great Britain will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 16, at 5:00 p.m. at the National Indoor Stadium.

In an extremely hard-fought, double-overtime game, Canada defeated the USA.  Clearly this was the premier matchup of the Paralympic wheelchair basketball tournament.  With this win, Canada advances to tomorrow’s gold medal game, while the USA will play for the bronze.

In the other semifinal game Australia defeated Great Britain by a score of 67 – 54.  Australia advances to the gold medal game and Great Britain will play for the bronze.

The medal games will be played on Tuesday, September 16 with the bronze medal game between the USA and Great Britain starting at 5:00pm Beijing Time (4:00am Central Time / 2:00am Pacific Time), and the gold medal game between Canada and Australia starting at 7:30pm Beijing Time (6:30am Central Time / 4:30am Pacific Time).

Semifinal game #2 will start at 7:00pm Beijing Time and will feature Australia and Great Britain (Great Britain defeated Germany by a score of 71-64 in the final quarterfinal game last night).  The medal games will be played on Tuesday, September 16 with the winners of the two semifinal games playing for the gold medal and the other two teams playing for the bronze.

You can see cumulative team and individual statistics from the 2008 Paralympics for these four teams by going to http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRMP/ENG/Schedule/WB.shtml and clicking on “start list” for the two semifinal games.

Go USA!!!

BEIJING, China –The U.S. Men’s Wheelchair Basketball Team has advanced to the semifinal round of competition at the Paralympic Games due to a forfeit by Iran. The U.S. officially won the game, 20-0, in accordance with IWBF rules.“We’re disappointed that we didn’t get to play a very talented team from Iran,” said U.S. head coach Steve Wilson (Racine, Wis.). “Our team was prepared for this game, but now we have to move on and focus on our next opponent in the semifinals.”

In other quarterfinal action, Canada defeated Israel by a score of 55-47.  Canada advances to the semifinals to play the USA on Sunday, September 14 at 7:00pm Beijing Time (Sunday, September 14 at 6:00am, Central Time / 4:00am, Pacific Time).  It is possible that the game will be web cast at www.universalsports.com ; we will post any information that we get on a web cast as soon as we hear.  

In the third quarterfinal game, Australia defeated Japan by a score of 72-52; Australia moves on to the semifinals to play the winner of the Germany – Great Britain game (still in progress at the time of this post).

The medal games will be played on Tuesday, September 16 with the winners of the two semifinal games playing for the gold medal and the other two teams playing for the bronze.