Opening Ceremony at Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem

Good evening everyone. We just returned to our hotel one hour ago, or 1:30 am Israel time. As I sit here trying my best to find polite words to write about the ceremony, my mind drifts back to 2009 and the situations we all faced then, with the folks in charge. I thought, that was unorganized beyond anything I had ever encountered, but this evening goes beyond unorganized and I can only say, words could never describe what unfolded. You had to experience it to try and understand this unorganized chaos. i am very proud of our team for handling it with honor!

We arrived at Teddy Stadium, at 5:00 pm, where the Opening Ceremony was to begin at 8:00 pm with the March of Countries into he stadium. Well, we didn't begin to march in until after 9:00 pm. By the time all the countries walked in and were seated it was about 10:30 pm. The actual show began then and it included singing, dancing and speeches from the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the President, Shimon Peres and the

Mayor of Jetusalem. After they all spoke, more of the show took place with singing and dancing. The ceremony concluded with Olympic Gold Medalist, Aly Raisnan lighting the flame. We were all told we could now leave, only to find out we weren't supposed to leave. All this was about 12:15 am. We started looking for the buses to take us back to our hotel, but none were in sight. We walked around for over 1 1/2 hours and then we were told to walk to the buses. The only catch was, we had to walk well over a mile to meet the buses, instead of the buses picking us up as we were told. There was absolutely no one from the Israel Maccabi there to help direct us. Wow, imagine that! I can't begin to tell you how frustrated we all are. We play our first game tomorrow at 4:00 pm and we are to leave for the field at 2:30 pm. The field is about 94 yards lomg by 63 yards wide. It is going to be very intereting, especially after what happened this past evening. Stay tuned...

Love and hugs to my family and Goldens,
Coach G from Israel