Day 0 (Written after tour ended.)
"You've got two options: Cancel the Bangdown II tour; or, the six of you can rent a van and go for it." -Kniff
The Bangdown II underwent major facial reconstruction before we even got to Madrid.   The original plan was this:
-Expect a cost of less than 500 Euro (accommodation, one meal a day and transportation included.
-The men’s and women’s tour will be run at the same time.
-Rent a private bus for 11 volley-dudes and a to-be-announced amount of volley-ladies.
-Play against, and in front of, the maximum number of Portuguese A1 (Division 1), and Top Portuguese A2 (Division 2) teams, SuperLiga (Spanish Division 1), Top FEV A (Spanish Division 2, North) and Top FEV B (Spanish Division 2, South).

The tentative itinerary
April 19             Train in Salamanca, Spain 10am. Travel to Porto, Portugal.
April 20             Match play in Porto.
April 21 – 22      Match play in Lisboa.
April 23             Travel to Granada, Spain.
April 24 – 26      Match play in Granada.
April 27             Match play in Almeria.
April 28             Match play in Alicante.
April 29            Match play in Benidorm.
April 30             Bus to Madrid (provided by the tour)

Except for playing against most of the aforementioned teams, the actual Bangdown II tour was entirely different compared to the original plan.  The cost increased, the ladies flaked, a private bus turned into a van and 11 volley-dudes turned into seven.  But seven didn't last long.  One guy ate his non-refundable $200 plane ticket, after said unpredictable changes occurred, and went home to North America.  Now we're down to six disenchanted volleyers wondering if their Euro-Volley/Road trip of a lifetime will be cancelled …

The day after tour complications were announced, the Bangdown II was on life support.  After a day of e-mailing each other to try and salvage something, the tour was back on.  (Ooo-kay!)  Six guys are in!  Hopefully the middles can pass and play D. To find out how amazing our tour of Portugal and Spain was, or if you're interested in how a BIP tour works (even a "thrown together, last-minute type deal"), check out the Journal and pictures below.  But before we get to the goods, let's have Dave Kniffen, who was absent on his own tour due to an injury and a fiancée, tell us about the idea behind the BIP Mini-Tour ...

"The basis of the Mini Tour is to celebrate, get pumped about next season, and pull a better contract than your previous year (hopefully in Spain or Portugal).  I would venture to say that your reasons for going should be in that order."
The guys participating in the madness are ...

Tour Roster

Day 1, Tuesday April 18, 2006
Madrid, Spain to Castelo de Maia, Portugal
“Where's my passport?" -Lee J.
After being eaten alive by mosquitoes at Walsh's house in Amsterdam, Lee J., Faucher, Walsh and I hopped on a plane from Amsterdam to Madrid, Spain.  But before we got to the baggage claim, Lee J. realized he left his passport and man-purse on the plane.  Luckily, he found his gear, but something tells me this isn’t a good sign…

Meeting up with Josh and Chris at the airport was no problem. Ready for the 500+ klik drive to Castelo De Maia (suburb of Porto), we jumped in the nine-passenger Bangdown Renault van and hit the road.

Several hours and u-turns later, Walsh called Paulo Cuhna, head coach of Castelo de Maia, to escort us because we were lost. (Shocking, huh?)  Paulo took us to two vacant player apartments, where we're staying for free (!) for the next three nights. BIP'ers Kevin Hansen and Peter Turpin lived and played here this past year ... Thanks for being gone and for free internet, guys!
A relaxing bath in the 'tub', and we're asleep by 3am.

The Tub!

Day 2, Wednesday April 19, 2006
Castelo de Maia, Portugal

"Little guy, but jumps REALLY high ... Big guy, HUGE block." -Faucher
Except for Chris, whose season ended last week, us Euro-Volleyers haven't trained at a high-level in weeks. (Unless you count playing soccer.)  So with our evening match versus #1 of Portugal, Vitoria Sport Clube, we felt morning training was imperative.  Even if it was on a girls net.

Joining us for the training and for the next few days is Rudy Gygli, manager of Naphels, a top team in Switzerland.  Rudy's searching for a middle-player to sign ... or is he on holiday?  Either way, having him along is nice because he's a volley fanatic. After lunch and some STRONG, yet delicious, 'cafe' a.k.a. espresso (they give you more sugar than coffee), we drove to ... no, got lost in the mountains and showed up late to our 4pm match.

Ruedi and the Team Minus Jon Walsh and Andy Holland

Vitorias Gym

Suddenly we found ourselves exchanging points with the #1 team in Portugal. Walsh played Opposite and scored almost everything.  We even ran some double quicks, but they were running some crazy stuff, too.  From what I hear, Portuguese volley isn't really a 'pin-to-pin, spread the ball every time' type of league.  Most clubs run combos and inside Xs.  From a setter's point of view, running that type of offense looked like a ton of fun.

Back to the game ... we played well until the 17 mark in all four sets but made mistakes (back-pass and tip-into-net-with-no-options) and Vitoria Sport Clube pulled away.  And to think their best middle was reffing the match ...
Thanks for the game and good luck in the final!

Now on the lookout for food, Rudy spots a real gem.  We score huge and end up getting a four-course meal (who ordered the ribs?), with a few rounds of beer and Porto wine for dessert.  Total cost: 19 Euro. Unbelievably cheap for how delicious the meal was.

“We’re supposed to eat all that?” –Nick and Josh and Portuguese skewers of meat.

During dinner, Faucher made us laugh when he realized volley talk is always the same thing: little guys jump high and big guys put up huge blocks.  We ate it up and ran with that joke the rest of the trip.

Tomorrow’s an important day: Bangdown II vs. Portuguese Nat'l B team.

Day 3, Thursday April 20, 2006
Castelo de Maia, Portugal

"I push it out, you cut it off!" - Nick.
Everyone except Walsh (working) and Faucher (a little sick) went to Porto for the day. Took in the gorgeous views and sampled the infamous Port wine right off the River Douro. A few Port wine purchases later, we're back in C.D.M. with Paulo waiting to usher us to our 5pm match against the Portuguese Nat'l B team.
Not only is Paulo looking for players, but he's coached for many years, won championships and has a ton of connections. In fact, he got Walsh his first volley job playing in the Azores of Portugal. After hearing these stories, we knew if we played well Paulo probably couldn’t get us on the Portuguese Nat'l team, but he'd remember our names for sure.

Lee J., Faucher and our borrowed libero (who looked like he came straight from the mountains with his Nike ACG hiking boots) passed nails; Josh and Chris scored at will (31s all day) and Walsh had some key blocks.  Basically, when I pushed it out they cut it off.  Only played three sets (won 2-1), but we showed Rudy and Paulo that we could ball.  "One-two, BANGDOWN!"
(Note: Today was the only day where we arrived at the gym an hour early. Maybe that's why we played so well?  Nah.  Couldn't be.)

In search of another great restaurant, Paulo took us to one of his favorite digs right on the coast.  It's important to note (as if I haven’t already) that Portuguese food is ridiculously delicious and inexpensive.  We devoured choice meats, fresh seafood and washed it down with local Cabeca de Burro wine and tap beer.  And, for the second night in a row, I'm proud to say we closed a restaurant down.  It was a true Euro Style dinner; 3 1/2 hours full of good food and good conversation, with a little alcohol to boot.  Great night.

Ruedi Paulo and the Gang, Getting Fat again!

We said our good-byes to Paulo and Rudy (‘see you in August!') and headed to the gas station so Lee J. and Josh could stay true to their three liters a day milk diet.

Thanks for everything, Paulo!

Day 4, Friday April 21, 2006
Castelo de Maia to Lisbon, Portugal
"You're probably used to getting hit over." -Andy
We planned to leave at 11am, but got outta there around 2pm.  Anyway, we've got a new guy joining the tour: Andy Holland, pos.4/2, Cannuck, who played in the Portuguese top league this year. (Canadians now officially outnumber Americans 4-3. Damn!)

Benfica is our opponent today and Walsh told us they might have the best facilities in all of EuroVolley.  He wasn't lying. Connected to FC Benfica's football stadium and basketball stadium, the volley hall was high and housed at least 1,000 fans.  Awesome stadium.

Benfica was an awesome team, too, that featured BIP's Doug Bruce as starting setter. Their serve pressure and athleticism were too much for us (we lost), but we gave 'em a go. To make this team, however, someone would've had to career.  And that didn't happen.

Benfica and the BIP Team

Later that night we watched a Benfica playoff basketball game (I didn't know Vernon Maxwell and Elden Campbell, former NBAers, played for Benfica?).  Chris wasn't sure if they used backboards in European basketball leagues, so I'm glad we went.

Since we had the weekend off, we hit the Expo party district in Lisbon.  The lead singer from the “Pussy Cat Dolls” served us drinks and then we taxi’d it to "Dock's Club."  While Andy, Walsh and Chris payed the 12 E cover to enter, the bouncer at Dock's said Faucher, Josh and I looked too 'sportif' to get in, unless we wanted to pay 150 Euros each.  Fact is, we looked good; this pint-sized bouncer was just a hater.  Faucher wanted to take a swing at him, but instead we got in a cab and searched for our hotel ...
90-minutes later we found it.
(Hint: Always remember the name of your hotel if you want to sleep in it.)

Day 5, Saturday April 22, 2006
Lisbon to Lagos, Portugal
"Where ya from?" -Crazy Lady in Restaurant
After a late departure once again (Not uncommon these days) the team headed south of Lisbon for the infamous Algarve coast for some RnR. 3 days and 3 games calls for a little rest time so Lagos was the destination for the next few days. 'The Rising Cock' hostel was our home for the next two volleyball free nights. The seven of us had our own dorm room including a private bedroom so Super Agent Walsh could pump out emails.

The Rising Cock Entrance!

Your agent hard at work.

Later that evening, at dinner, we had the Most Random Hilarious Moment of the tour ...

So we just finished our meal, paid and we're half-way out of this restaurant when this random lady has this exchange with Faucher:
Crazy Lady (with hostility): "Hey! Where ya from?"
Faucher (innocent): "Canada."
Crazy Lady (enraged for no apparent reason): "F*** You!"
Faucher (without skipping a beat): "F*** you, ya f***in' who**!"
She stayed in her chair and we walked out.  That was it.  The waiters at the restaurant said she comes in frequently and does random stuff like that ... um, frequently.  Wonder why they keep letting her come in?

Tonight we warmed up with house music ("If you wanna ride, ride the white horse") and games (Bull Shit!), put our Euro tank-tops on and headed out to town. We met up with some fun people: BJ, the Canadian bartender, Steve, the guy who invited me to sail the Mediterranean with him on his yacht (Why am I in Salt Lake City right now???) and Ernie and Tony, Walsh's friends who hid his jacket behind the garbage can at the KGB club, yet forgot to inform Walsh.

Let the Games Begin

Caption Nice Tops

Most of us were back at the Rising Cock by 6am. 

Day 6, Sunday April 23, 2006
 Lagos, Portugal

"I'm just gonna f***in give'r." -Deaner
Since most of us aren't tan like Lee J., who played in Sweden (huh???), we were all jones'n for the beach.  Sun wasn't shining, but we threw the frisbee, made a sand 'castle' and took a dip in the sea.  Due to Lee J.'s uncanny resemblance to Sylvester Stallone, we reenacted the scene from Rocky III.  You know, the one where Rocky finally beats Apollo in a foot race along the beach ... and then they jump up-and-down in short-shorts hugging each other?  Yeah, that one.

The Beach

Is that Lee J Mont or Sly Stone???

("Dragooooo!!!")
Stayed in tonight and studied electrical engineering with Chris and watched "Fubar", a fake-documentary on two headbangers from Canada.  Absolutely hysterical.  The "I'm just gonna f***in give'r" line from that movie seemed to be our credo for the disorganized tour that was the Bangdown II - Just a bunch of Yanks and Cannucks who like to volley, travel and party. Whenever and wherever.

***Fubar the movie picture:  http://www.fubar-themovie.com/title_page.html
*Caption: “Give’r!”

Day 7, Monday April 24, 2006
Lagos, Portugal to Chiclana, Spain
"Stick with me guys because everything ..." -Josh.
Late start today.  Walsh lost ... rather, misplaced his wallet and didn't find it until he cancelled his credit cards.  Figures.  Hey, at least he found his jacket.
Since we're on our way to Spain, Walsh is out of shotgun; Josh, who played SuperLiga ball in Spain and is fluent in Spanish, is in.  Josh was in the zone immediately.  Maps, signs, gas station people, DJ-ing, it didn't matter; if it was in Spanish, he understood and there were no more u-turns ... or, not as many.  Modestly, he let us know about it ...

"Everything just always seems to work out for me."
Chiclana (southwest Spain) is a new FEV team who wants to move up to SuperLiga.

Chiclana, GAME TIME!

They weren't the strongest team on tour, so they're going to need some players.
With a powerful spike in warm-ups, Chris broke the entire net and poll system. During the match he went on a serving rampage with five aces in-a-row.  The coach said he was impressed and interested in signing a few players. In fact, Andy played with them for the last set.  He scored balls, but we let him do it so he'd look good.

Won 4-0.  Back up to .500.

Day 8, Tuesday April 25, 2006
Chiclana, Spain to Granada, Spain

"Win or lose, hit the booze." -Faucher.
We're making great time to Granada ...
And then the dryer broke.
(For the record, it was my fault, too.)

Do not hang uniforms out the window. -Andy finds his shorts on side of a highway.

All we saw is students when we rolled into Granada, a city with 270,000 people located a half-hour away from the 3,400 meter high Sierra Nevada Ski Resort. Turns out there are over 60,000 students!  Single guys on tour are thrilled. University of Granada (finished in bottom-half of the SuperLiga in Spain) was a solid team with good ball control.  Don't know if it was the long drive, the gym's low ceiling or lack of focus (we just saw A LOT of 'students') but team Bangdown II didn't bangdown on anything.  It was one of those days when everyone's covering and the ball is blocked deep into the far corner. Or when a guy smokes a ball and the defender chicken-wing digs it and it falls on our back line.  Things like that happened throughout the match.  All of us were really stoked on this city and the possibility of signing with this team, even if it meant going back to school.  The effort was there, but it just wasn't our day.

Some guys were bummed and wanted to stay in and rest.  Others grabbed a kebab and wanted to 'put on some pants and go for just one beer.'  Unable to decide, we realized one thing: we're in an awesome city and should take full advantage. Granada would not disappoint...

In most student cities, Tuesday nights are usually as dead as a Euro-shopping mall on Sundays. At first, it seemed Granada was studying for finals, then we caught our break.  Walking along a deserted street, we ran into some Yankee gals who study at the University.  They led, we followed.

We didn't own the court tonight, but the dance floor was ours. "The World is Mine", a Depeche Mode original song remixed by David Guetta, and other Euro-style house beats, gave us a soundtrack to remember the best off-the-court night of the tour.   So far...

Good thing we put on some pants.

We be Clubbin! Discotheque Bangdown- Chris, Walsh, Josh, LJ and Nick dancing it up till the wee hours.

The World in Mine!

Day 9, Wednesday April 26, 2006
Granada, Spain

"Nine-hour drive to Barcelona. Wanna go?" -Walsh
2pm and we just woke up.  "I want revenge," Faucher demands.  He's not talking about some gal from last night that got away. (NONE of 'em got away.)  He's talking about University of Granada volley.  Almost everyone agrees.  We want to play them again and show 'em that we're not a bunch of hacks.  Turns out that they're just training tonight and we don't want to run drills, we want to play.  Someone says 'beach', and, next thing you know we're over it.  To the coast! You're lucky we didn't show, UGR.
On the way to rock beach, we got a call from original tour organizer, Dave Kniffen, who's helping us find games from his home in the States.  He says Barcelona's got a new FEV team and they need players.  Its nine-hours away, but with our luck it'd be 12.  The group isn't too excited.  But then Walsh says, "Don't worry, guys.  Lee J. and I will get us there tomorrow ... I will navigate with the precision of a Ginsu Knife!"
Um ... okay.  Whatever that means.  The tour was suppose to end in Madrid, but oh well. Bar-thha-lona here we come! After one power stance from the infamous Bermuda Triangle, we shut down the beach.

The infamous Bermuda Triangle. Sign these guys if you can!

Day 10, Thursday April 27, 2006
Granada, Spain to Barcelona, Spain
"Maybe Ronaldinho will take a pay cut" -Anonymous
With Lee J. Schumacher and Ginsu Walsh at the helm, we departed at 8:30am. Only 30-minutes late!  Tour record.

Faucher and Chris asleep after an electrical engineering study session

FC Barcelona is one of the biggest soccer clubs in Europe.  Brazilian Ronaldinho plays there and he's one of the most popular and highest paid players in the world.  Apparently, the new FEV volley team plays under the same name -FC Barcelona- and uses the same money.  Guess the club doesn’t worry about sponsors.

A 20-minute metro ride from the center of Las Ramblas, FC Barcelona's volley hall is about a 3-wood away from FC Barcelona's enormous soccer stadium.  Springy wood flooring, high dome-shaped gym with seating for 600+ … Nice gym ... Check.

The Jr. team we played was like a decent high-school team.  They competed and were fun to play, but we won handily.  Most importantly, the assistant coach of the FEV team was impressed and seemed excited to talk business with Walsh. Tomorrow, the head coach would be there including most of the FEV team starters.  Interested coach ... Check.

Back on Las Ramblas ... Barcelona's 'strip', which is the Mecca for street performers.

Caption: Faucher with Tonto

Anyway, our favorite street performer wasn't Tonto, Michael Jackson (80s style) or the Dude In The Bike Accident.  It was Mr. 6-for-5.

You just can’t beat 6 beers for five Es on Las Ramblas.

 After a bucket of KFC chicken and a few 6-for-5s, we checked out Barcelona's nightlife ...

Nick and a little American Pie.

Killer nightlife ... Check.

Day 11, Friday April 28, 2006
Barcelona, Spain
"Vamos a la playa!"  -Anonymous
Sleeping in today, but our alarm clock is Andy: "Where's my wallet?!"

Here we go again ...
While Andy hangs back to cancel credit cards, we stayed true to our cold-cut craving and hit up Subway en route to the beach (I think I've eaten cold-cuts e-v-e-r-y day on this tour.  Bla.)  FYI Andy found his Wallet after Cancelling everything, wow that seems to also be a theme of the trip.

I'm a idiot!

The beach was beautiful.  Plenty of sunshine, people and beach volley.  We even ran into Roberto, a Brazilian middle player from Benfica on holiday.  Cool guy who we'd hang out with throughout the weekend.
Beach ... Check.

Caption: Hitting the Barcelona Beach Scene

Last match of the tour and it was one of our finest.  FC Barcelona coaches told Walsh that they'd like to have a few players for next year.  But first they needed to talk to the club about money. Money?  Shoot, if they get some pocket change from Ronaldinho they'd be able to sign at least three foreigners and some EU guys.  Hmmm ...

Caption: BIP Volleyball 2 FC Barcelona 0 (I just love the sound of that)

(Money ... Ch-maybe)
Back on Las Ramblas and a celebratory liter of Sangria, thanks to Walsh. (That guy hooked us up all trip long.)  Even Lee J. sipped the special sauce.  Cheers: To another great season!

Caption: Cheers to the end of another good season and another legendary Tour!
(Great place to play ... Check.  Better than Granada?  Doubt it.)

Day 12, Saturday April 29, 2006
Barcelona, Spain

"I'm tired of organizing." -Walsh
The disorganization that is the Bangdown II continued today.  Actually, it got worse. We got Faucher and Chris out of Barcelona too late.  Faucher missed his flight and it cost Walsh quite a few Euros. Andy left in time and found his wallet, but he and Josh left a shopping bag full of personal gear behind.  As if we didn't have enough stuff. Walsh, Lee J. and I overpaid for accommodation (we're staying In Barcelona through the weekend) due to lack of planning.  Lee J. slept on the floor.  Ouch. Well, the disorganization finally caught up with us.  We were frustrated at times during this tour, but we all knew (except Chris) what we were getting into at the start of the tour - an unorganized road/volley trip due to people bailing.  But you know what, I had a helluva time and I’m so glad I came.  It was worth every penny and headache.  Can't wait for next spring's tour- The E. Bloc Bangdown III.

Just living the dream.

The Author himself in all his glory.

THE END