Friday Morning - 29th Jan 2010
I am DJ Rod, I do the game night music for the Townsville McDonald's Crocodiles and also am the webmaster for www.crocodiles.com.au, our Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and eBay sites. I'll be keeping a daily blog of the Crocs Supporters Tour of Adelaide as 52 of us take on almost 7000 36ers supporters.
I had a 5am wake up call this morning for a 6am flight to Brisbane and forwarding plane to Adelaide. I've been told the team will not be joining us on this plane as they'll get the 11am flight. No surprises there - they boys like a sleep in!
Our flight to Brisbane was a typical one; I got to sit next to Glenn & Toni Betts from Global Welding Supplies. They have been supporters and sponsors since day 1, this is actually not a rare thing... most people on this tour are long time supporters, faces I've seen a lot before but never really had the opportunity to meet.
As we flew into Adelaide the first thing we noticed was the sunshine and blue skies. Leaving a night where we had almost 200mm of rain, to not a cloud in the skies, was weird!
We have some free time now to do as we please, so I'm going to get a Vili's Pie which come highly recommended by 6ers coach, and former Crocs Assistant, Scott Ninnis. Then I'm going to catch up with 
Brett Maher and Kevin Brooks who do an online TV show called 'Inside The Game'.
Oh just an update: I sat next to Linda Crawford, mother of PC in the bus on the way to our hotel, she told me the players had a training session at 9:30 this morning... Coach Gleeson runs a tight ship!
Tomorrow we have a wine tour, hosted by Rob & Patricia Rose, then off to watch the Townsville Fire game at 5:30pm and the Crocs game at 7:30pm... Can't wait!
FIRE UP & GO CROCS GO!
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Saturday Morning - 30th Jan 2010
Last night was a big night! The group all went our separate ways, most out to dinner along Gouger st, which is right next to the Hilton Hotel, where we are staying. Others then went to the Casino, whereas I went to a few night spots with ex NBA & NBL Player Kevin Brooks.
I watched the live internet TV show, Inside the Game, as mentioned above, and if you haven't heard of it, do yourself a favour and check it out. It's the only NBL TV Show out there! They had interviews with a journalist from the West Australian Newspaper, Shayne Hope and also from our own Antony Stewart from the Townsville Bulletin.
Adelaide is such a beautiful, historic city. Rundle St Mall was brilliant and the churches and old buildings are extaordinary.
I've just come back from a beautiful breakfast with some of our group, the Fosters, Nugents, Judy Stanbrook & Robyn West... these guys are just hard core supporters and can't wait to experience the atmosphere of The Dome.
We have been rubbing shoulders with the big names here at the Hilton, the Tour of Adelaide cyclists have been staying here, the band, Grinspoon rocked up in their van last night and this morning we had breakfast with AFL superstar, Nathan Buckley and Leader of the Liberal Party, Tony Abbott.
Now onto the wine tour, hosted by Rob & Patricia Rose... this should be interesting!!!
FIRE UP & GO CROCS GO!
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Saturday Afternoon - 30th Jan 2010
We’ve been through the McLaren Vale wineries all day today, on a tour led by Rob & Patricia Rose. This wine region is simply world class and right on Adelaide’s doorstep. The tour group have tasted close to 100 different wines and had lunch overlooking an amazing vineyard.
36ers legend Mike McKay joined the group and gave us a small insight into Adelaide’s culture and history… well actually he just solved a mystery we had arguing over all day; why are the Adelaide basketball team called the 36ers? The city was founded in 1836!
During the day it was great to be able to mix with some more people on the tour like Rodney & Catherine from Coca Cola Amatil, Kylie & Catherine from Jupiters Hotel & Casino, Sue & Bernie Burns from Global Welding Supplies and Justin & Courtney from Mt Isa… yes, Mt Isa! (more on these guys later)
We’re now on the bus on the way to the Townsville McCafe Fire game which is the curtain raiser for the Crocs game. We are meeting some Fire supporters at the game to make one big section of Townsville fans! This is very exciting to go on the road in a big group like this; if you ever get the chance to come on a trip like this, or even just to Cairns, please do it!
Most people are actually quite tired at the moment, we’ve been on this tour since 9am and the first cork was popped on the bus at about 9:01! It has been a long day but hopefully we can get 2 wins to take home with us!
Fire Up & Go Crocs Go!
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Sunday Morning - 31st Jan 2010
WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!!!
What a night! We witnessed two very close games, the Fire going down by 3 and the Crocs escaping with a 1 point win after being down by 11 in the last quarter. Unbelievable!
When we got there and started watching the Fire play the Adelaide Lightning, I noticed we were all very quiet. I think the wine tour had caught up with us and we all needed a nanna nap! The game wasn’t the best spectacle either, with both teams missing a lot of shots. Rohanee Cox looked determined to take the game over in the 2nd half and had two 3 pointers in the last 20 seconds to force overtime but missed. Her second one was her best chance but just didn’t knock it down.
In the break I went for a walk around the arena and quite liked what I saw. Adelaide is steeped in tradition and displays that well with Championship Banners, a wall of team posters from their past, retired jerseys and also a pewter cast of Mark Davis’ head at the front door.
Their corporate boxes are around the top of the arena in ‘Sky Boxes’, they have a restaurant which serves over 200 pre game meals every game and catering facilities all around the arena.
They also have something called ‘Hollywood Seats’ which is 2 seats right next to our bench, literally right next to Lyndon Brieffies. The 6ers had given these seats to us as a prize for the Supporters Tour. Ian Smythe drew out a lucky winner, which was Rodney Millet from Coke… he graciously gave the tickets to Justin & Courtney Wilkins from Mt Isa.
Justin manages the Buffs Club in Mt Isa and was invited on the tour by Rodney. They are massive Crocs fans and both played basketball in their younger days so maybe they were offering some tips to the coaches in the 4th quarter? What an experience it would have been!
When the Crocs were introduced, our group gave them a massive cheer and you could tell the boys were very happy to hear the support. As I said before, we were down by 11 points in the last quarter before Rolan Roberts took over, Brad Williamson hit his 6th 3 pointer and Michael Cedar pulled up on a fast break to knock down his only triple.
All of this was without Corey Williams as he was fouled out with only 6 points but Cameron Tovey stepped up to finish with 10 points and 11 rebounds. His defense was also a stand out.
Now I’m not going to say that I had given up on them, but… I HAD! It made the celebration so much better, and what a celebration!!! We met the team back at their Hotel for some drinks and snacks. When Russell Hinder addressed the group and told us that they would not have come back from such a deficit without our support, it was all worth it!
Some of us joined a few players at the Casino afterwards to continue celebrating… some more than others but what a great day it had been!
FIRE UP & GO CROCS GO!!!
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Sunday Night - 31st Jan 2010
We are home and VERY tired, but everyone had an absolute blast! Adelaide was an excellent destination and the win made everyone very happy.
There was some talk of it being the very first win on a Crocs Supporters Tour, surley not, maybe someone out there can let us know...
We were all very impressed with the people of Adelaide, the 36ers fans, the Dome (even though it went into receivership) and the atmosphere of almost 7000 fans, so thank you 36ers fans!
While I am on thank yous, I have to thank Ian Smythe and Victoria Page for organising the whole trip and also Rob & Patricia Rose for taking us on the Wine Tour... oh and thanks to the players for winning!
I looked back over the stats and saw that we were down 11 - 78-67 with 6:08 to go; from there, Rolan scored 9, Mick had 2 3's, Rusty had 3 and Brad had 3... what an effort. A short highlights video here.
I have just finished compiling the Crocs Supporters Tour Video so please watch and enjoy.
If you ever get a chance, go on a Crocs Supporters Tour, you'll never regret it!
FIRE UP & GO CROCS GO
