Sports stats



Shark Bytes / The Trip North

April 6, 2011 - Premier Basketball League (PBL)
Rochester RazorSharks News Release


There's an Olympic sized swimming pool at the Pur. That's the hotel the Rochester RazorSharks are holed up in here at Quebec City, where they'll play game two of their Premier Basketball League best-of-three semifinal playoff series with the Kebs tonight. Coffee in the lobby is free and the croissants are excellent. They're even better when served by someone speaking French.

The basketball team has a walk-through at Laval University where the game will be played tonight. It will be trying to shake the affects of a 13 hour bus ride Tuesday. The length of that trip due largely to the good people working the border.

Wasn't Canada once considered a friendly neighbor? When did that change? Custom officials decided the RazorSharks team bus was worth a search. Everyone was asked to leave the bus and everything picked through. It's different every time you cross and it seems to matter where you cross. We chose the Port of Lansdowne, north of Watertown. That was clearly a mistake.

There were at least 19 people working the customs office so I guess they need to do something. We watched them take apart a car owned by a middle aged couple while they looked through our stuff. For all their efforts, they found nothing worth confiscating.

Conspiracy theorists might propose that the border guards were working us over on orders from the Kebs, who felt they got worked over stateside on Saturday. That's giving the PBL a little more credit than it deserves.

By the way and I'm not recommending it, if you're interested in smuggling, drive a tractor trailer truck. They wave them right through.

Featured movie on the trip, 'The Social Network.' Good the first time I saw it. Still good. Keith Friel is the unofficial keeper of the movies. He's a travel insomniac and sits up front with the coaches. The bus comes with 12 bunks, three rows of two on each side and most of the players keep to themselves. The trip itself was not the social event of the year.

Players get 20 dollars a day from the team for their meals. We chose a Tim Horton's just across the Quebec line with Ontario, because the Wendy's was three miles off an exit. Everyone scored a little profit on this one. Money that will no doubt be spent today and tonight, especially if the Sharks win to close out the series.

• Discuss this story on the Premier Basketball League message board...

Premier Basketball League Stories from April 6, 2011


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Rochester RazorSharks Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central