Called for Traveling: My Nomadic Life Playing Pro Basketball around the World

Called for Traveling: My Nomadic Life Playing Pro Basketball around the World

by Tyler Smith
Called for Traveling: My Nomadic Life Playing Pro Basketball around the World

Called for Traveling: My Nomadic Life Playing Pro Basketball around the World

by Tyler Smith

Hardcover

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Overview

Called for Traveling is a pro basketball journey that spans four continents, seven countries and twelve teams over eleven hilarious and adventurous years. After playing his college ball at Penn State, Tyler Smith had a path in mind of where he wanted his pro basketball career to lead. Bringing his own toilet paper to away games, courts made of concrete, and fully-geared riot police at every stadium were not part of his original dream.

Where were all the big contracts people talked about? Would he even have a job next season—or next week? And would he be playing for free this month because the team didn’t feel like paying him?

In this highly unstable and unorthodox overseas lifestyle as a professional basketball player, Smith draws readers in quickly with his humor and ability to share his clever stories that seem outrageous, but are 100 percent true. His attitude and faith are tested relentlessly through bounced paychecks, injuries, and the seemingly endless frustrating reality of people around him speaking a language he could not understand.

From Italy to Japan to Uruguay, and even the NBA, the challenges and adventures only accelerate as Tyler’s wife and kids are added to the overseas equation. His unique story is highly engaging whether or not you’re a basketball junkie. Called for Traveling is an honest and entertaining inside look at one man’s journey playing pro basketball around the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781683580768
Publisher: Sports Publishing LLC
Publication date: 10/24/2017
Pages: 384
Sales rank: 464,966
Product dimensions: 5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Tyler Smith was a three-year starter on the men's basketball team at Penn State and was an Academic All-American. He played a key role during Penn State's run to the 2001 NCAA Sweet 16 when they knocked off North Carolina en route to PSU's best season in almost fifty years. Following his graduation from Penn State, Smith played professional basketball for eleven years in the US and overseas. He lives in State College, Pennsylvania with his wife Cara and daughters Hannah, Lexi, and Tori.

Table of Contents

1 Delivering Gatorade: My First Contract Offer 1

2 As Long as the Shoes Aren't Wooden: It's Holland 8

3 Cold Gym, Hard Time: Herman's Holland 15

4 'Is Dis Vat Your Nose Look Like Yesterday?': Dutch Hard Knocks 44

5 Best Pizza and Pasta on the Planet: Italy 54

6 Life on a Trapeze: Uruguay, Achilles, and Armen Gilliam 72

7 Homemaking and Homecoming: Uruguay yet Again 104

8 "They Want My Socks": Argentina 128

9 Rick Barry Notices: China Draft Camp 152

10 God, Jerry Sloan, and $412,718: The Utah Jazz 160

11 Going to Disneyland: The NBA D-League 173

12 Bonus? Baby? Holland, Take Two 190

13 Nomo, Todo, Ono, and Aono: Japan 214

14 New Friends, Old Outcomes: Japan Again 241

15 But the Room Kept Shaking: Japan Year Three 257

16 Relocation, Dislocation, and The Price Is Right 282

17 X-Factors: Six Weeks in Uruguay 293

18 No to the Dunk Contest, Yes to the Pee Cup: Japan Year Five 310

19 No One Stormed the Floor, but I Made My Last Shot: Thailand 332

Postgame 355

Acknowledgments 361

About the Author 364

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