Grizz Growls: A Few Days in the D

Grizz Bowling

Joe Murphy/NBAE/Getty Images

December 9, 2009

MY Peeps what is up?!!!  Hope everyone out there had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend, I’m sure a lot of belly’s out there were filled to capacity just like mine was.  I also hope Black Friday wasn’t too chaotic for all you eager people trying to get a jump on all the best deals.  Unfortunately I didn’t have an opportunity to take advantage of any door buster deals; I was up early and on my way to Bismarck, North Dakota.

Now why our beloved Grizz would be heading to frigid Bismarck over Thanksgiving weekend you might be asking yourself?  I’ll tell you why, I was heading out to lend a helping hand, errrrrr paw to our NBA Developmental League affiliate the Dakota Wizards.  You see this past weekend was the opening to their season, and they knew a little Grizz would go a long way for their fans.  Now I’ve never been to Bismarck North Dakota and to be perfectly honest with you it’s never a place I would have thought that I would go visit.  You know, who says, Man one day I’m going to visit North Dakota!!!  But let me tell you all this, it’s actually quit a cool place.

The Wizards opening night was on Saturday. They have never brought in any one for entertainment so I was a big hit.  Just for a bit of fun I pulled out my good old jump rope skit.  It went over very well.  The next night I treated them to a bit of Mascot Bowling, instead of the customary bowling pins we use here in Memphis, I went out and bought some plastic trash cans from the local Home Depot (yes they do have them in Bismarck).  I think I may have to start using them here because the sound it makes when I fly out of control and crash into them is awesome.  I was pitted against the Dakota Wizards mascot Dunkie.  Let me start off by saying by this point in the game the crowd had become true fans of yours truly, I had dazzled them with some cool skits and great fan interaction, but I was expecting the crowd to be rooting for the local fur ball in this contest.  Man was I surprised, when the PA announcer explained the contest and how it was between the two of us the crowd seemed like it was split 50/50.

I went first deferring the chance to match my feat to the local boy.  As I got slung down I knew I was on target, right before I hit the first pin I leaped off the rolling cart and threw my hairy body sideways to make sure I made as much contact with as many pins as possible.  CRASH! Strike! Grizz gets a strike! Little did I know during all the excitement I accidently plowed into and knocked over the sweet girl who was holding the mat to stop my momentum.  At first I was worried that she might have been hurt, but when I bent down to check on her she was laughing hysterically.  Up next was local mascot Dunkie, I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt because this was his first venture into mascot bowling.  I’m not going to bore you with the play by play details but let’s just say he knocked down as many people in the front row as bowling pins!!!!  All the spectators were ok and the crowd absolutely loved it.  Ultimately the score card read:  Grizz-STRIKE, Dunkie – 3 pins, 3 spectators.  All in all the contest ended up a hit, a few bumps along the way but all’s well that ends well!

My time down in the D-league taught me a few things.  The entertainment is good, the basketball is good and the people are Great!  I had a blast in Bismarck and hopefully I’ll get a chance to travel back to North Dakota and perform for the great people there again soon.  Above all I learned that our very own Assistant Coach, David Joerger is a legend in Bismarck.  He coached there for many seasons and won almost as many championships.  I couldn’t go anywhere without someone stopping me and asking how Coach was doing up in the big time.
Make sure to check back soon for another edition of Grizz Growls!

And remember…
If you’re going to be a bear, be a Grizzly….

Grizz

For more from Grizz, visit his Official page.

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