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Culture club: Elon men's team set for international adventure

 ELON — When he returned home to Indiana last month, Jack Isenbarger participated in the Indy Pro-Am, a summer league featuring serious competition that includes handfuls of NBA players such as Eric Gordon and Zach Randolph.

That experience, while plenty memorable, still amounts to an appetizer on what soon will become a basketball sampler platter for Isenbarger.

The sophomore guard and the rest of the Elon University men’s team are set to taste some international flavor as they embark today on a European tour with stops in Germany, Austria and Italy.

“It’s a one-shot-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Isenbarger said, “going overseas and getting to see what the culture is like. So we’re all really excited. More than anything it’ll be a chance for us to bond and get a feel for each other.”

The process already is off to a head start thanks to 10 practice sessions that the NCAA permits teams prior to traveling abroad.

Elon has worked out on campus in Alumni Gym and even used FIBA-style basketballs provided by Roger Dugas, a junior forward from Canada.

Four games against professional clubs — three opponents are German teams and the final one is Italian — await the Phoenix after its flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

“We’re going to play basketball and see foreign countries,” senior guard Drew Spradlin said. “I think half of us haven’t been over there or anywhere, so it should be fun. I’ve been looking forward to it all summer.

“It’s a big deal for me. I’ve never really thought of it or imagined I’d be doing something like this.”

Culture shock shouldn’t be an issue for sophomore swingman Sebastian Koch or coach Matt Matheny.

Koch grew up in Germany. Elon is scheduled to arrive there Friday and Koch’s family connections helped the Phoenix secure a practice gym in Munich, his hometown.

“He’s our translator and tour guide,” Spradlin said of Koch.

Matheny, who this fall enters his third season at Elon, will be undertaking his fifth European trip as a coach. During his 16 seasons as an assistant to Davidson coach Bob McKillop, who’s quite connected overseas, Matheny accompanied the Wildcats abroad four times.

“Having gone on these trips before, I understand the value of them,” he said. “I think there’s the team chemistry value. I think there’s the basketball component and there’s the cultural experience, which is extraordinary.

Indy Car TV Deal: WTF? « Disciple of INDYCAR Weblog

Here is some unsolicited advice to Indy Car. The framework is the same old thing. What substance is there? The ABC relationship began as a stable marriage. It fell apart when they took a fat country girl as a mistress. Then they essentially divorced Indy Car, married the fat country girl and paid child support to Indy Car. Then they discovered Viagra and began horndogging any other sport they thought had merit. Randy Bernard has seemed very distant lately. Gone is bubbling enthusiasm for growth of the brand. Also missing is the candor that endears him to fans. What fans want to know is simple. Other than six more years of the same old thing, what is there to be excited about? And please do not tell me we are lucky to get what we have. What we have with regard to television is mediocrity, and that looks unlikely to improve.

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