June 2, 2008

Day 1 - May 31, 2008
Coach Randall's Crazy Travel Day

Dear Bobcat fans and family:
This is the first installment of my blog from the US Army Classic of the Hardwood Tour in Afghanistan. You won't believe how tired I am. Who knew sitting in an airport could take such a toll on someone! I have to say, this has to be one of the longest trips I have ever been on.

My day started off great! I was excited, nervous and anxious, just the way I felt as a freshmen at Tennessee. My mom gave me a ride to the airport and on the way there we had an interesting conversation. She said that when I was two years old, she had total control over me and made decisions for me. But now, 27 years later, she doesn't have that control and it's driving her CRAZY! While at the airport, I called my players to make sure they finish what they had started, and to tell them that I am very proud to be their coach. I also called my assistant coaches Karen (Hewitt) and Will (Brown) to see if they had any last-minute questions, and to tell them to hold down the fort while I'm gone. After making all my calls, I was ready to board the plane, however my flight that was suppose to leave at 7:20 was delayed.

At that point I was thinking, "what am I going to do?" Someone from the airline personnel suggested that I fly from Cleveland to Washington D.C. and grab a connector flight from there to my destination. Pretty easy transition, right? That's what I thought! When I arrived in D.C. I was told that the flight I was suppose to connect to was already in the air. At that point, I was losing patience, and everyone that knows me, knows that patience isn't one of my strong suits. Although, I do believe that experience helped me grow to become more patient. Tomorrow, I'm flying to Frankfurt, Germany and from there to Doha, Qatar. Unfortunately, I'm going to be a day behind everyone else on the trip. On the other hand, I'm pretty excited to join Shawn Bradley, Elden Campbell, Tom Gugliotta and Rushia Brown on this trip!

Good Night,
Coach Randall

Day 2 - June 1, 2008
Where's my luggage?

So after a very long and tiresome day yesterday, I got to the airport today to check in and wait for my flight to Frankfurt, Germany. As I was waiting, my name was called over the speaker to see the airline personnel. When I got up there to see them, they informed me that they couldn't find my luggage and that they weren't sure where it went. Remember yesterday when I mentioned that patience isn't one of my strong suits? One minute I was thinking, "Here we go again!" The next minute I was thinking, "Maybe someone will invent a way to carry everything on the plane to avoid moments like this!", and the last thing going through my mind was, "Am I going to have to wear the same clothes for 10 whole days?" As I was standing there with these things running through my mind and hoping for some good news, it happened. I was upgraded to first class! See what can happen when you're patient!

Until next time,
Coach Randall