Follow the Men's Basketball team as they try to get to California for Cable Car Classic
The following is a blog of the experiences of the men's basketball team as they attempt to restart their schedule following the Christmas break.
You can also follow along with WFUV's Tom Felice on WFUV.org/sports | Sean Brennan's NY Daily News article
Sunday, December 26, 2010 - Princeton, N.J.
What a long strange trip it's already been. On a day that started with plans of flying to Atlanta for a game with Georgia Tech on Monday afternoon turned out to be a night spent at the Hyatt in Princeton, New Jersey, thanks to Mother Nature. Needless to say the Fordham-Georgia Tech game has been canceled.
The day began with a 12:30 p.m. bus from the Rose Hill Gym to LaGuardia airport where the Rams had a flight scheduled to Atlanta. When the Rams left the Bronx the flight was still scheduled for an on-time departure but upon arriving at the airport the squad learned of the cancellation. And with the flight cancelled, the game at Georgia Tech had to also be cancelled.
Luckily for the Rams, plans had already been put in motion in the event of a flight cancellation. The only problem was that the plans involve a trip to Pittsburgh. With all the flight cancellations from the three New York area airports, it was impossible to find a flight with 25 open seats to California. So the Rams reached out to other airports and found a few flights out of Pittsburgh on Tuesday that could accommodate the group. Now the issue was getting to Pittsburgh.
After learning of the flight cancellation at LaGuardia, it was decided that the bus would head to Pittsburgh, hoping to get out of the area in front of the blizzard. Once again, Mother Nature had other ideas as the Rams were forced to abandon the trip in New Jersey, but not before the vehicle decided to throw a wrench in the equation.
After a few stops on the New Jersey Turnpike to tend to engine problems, the bus seemed to be back to normal and the Rams had hopes of making it to the Pennsylvania Turnpike. But a traffic jam on the turnpike forced the Rams to exit the highway early and they found themselves in Princeton with the weather getting worse. So the plan was to make it to the hotel but once again engine problems forced the bus to the side of the road. After repeated attempts to get the bus back on the road, the Rams finally found some luck as a van showed up to start delivering the players and staff to the hotel. Jut then the bus also started behaving and the driver was able to get the rest of the team to the hotel.
The Rams are bedding down tonight at the Hyatt in Princeton with hopes of completing the trip to Pittsburgh in the morning where they will practice in the afternoon. The squad will then fly out to California to participate in the 2010 Cable Car Classic on Wednesday and Thursday, opening play on Wednesday night with a game against American University at 11:00 PM EST.
Monday, December 27, 2010, 10:00 AM - Princeton, N.J.
The new bus made it here last night and the team awoke to bright sunshine. Maybe the worm has turned for the Rams. Eddie the bus driver is behind the wheel, Denzel Washington is on the screen (Man on Fire) and we're on the road to Pittsburgh! Let's see what experiences await us as we traverse the Pennsylvania Turnpike. But before we do here are some photos of the beginning of our day 
Photo Gallery.
Monday, December 27, 2010, 10:00 PM - Pittsburgh, Pa.
We made it to Pittsburgh and even managed to get a practice in, though not without a few curve balls. When we started out in Princeton the sun was out but the ground was covered with snow and the winds were whipping. By the time we got close to Harrisburg the ground was clear of snow but the winds where still pushing the bus from side to side. A great job by Eddie the bus driver to keep the bus in its lane.
We attempted to stop for lunch shortly after noon only to find out the rest stop had no power. So it was on to the next rest stop which was absolutely packed with humanity, including a bunch of people wearing purple Kansas State University shirts. We assume that they are on their way to the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium on Thursday where the Wildcats will play Syracuse. It was decided that instead of waiting (much to the chagrin of Ryan Hage who was looking forward to lunching at Burger King), we would push on to the next rest stop for lunch which, much to the delight of the Rams, had a much smaller crowd and a Quiznos Restaurant.
After lunch it was back on the road only the bright blue skies had turned grey and light flurries fell from the heavens. But after driving through the blizzard on Sunday, the light snow was no match for Eddie who got the bus to the Pittsburgh airport Marriott at about 4:00 PM and at just about the same time as the second movie of the trip, Pride and Glory, was coming to an end.
The Rams were back on the bus for a short ride to Robert Morris University where they practiced from 6:00 PM until about 7:15 PM. At the end of the session, head coach Tom Pecora went over the schedule for the rest of night and Tuesday. It included pizza for dinner and a 4:00 AM wakeup call for most of the team on Tuesday morning to board the bus to the airport. The team will be split into three groups and be flown on three different flights to San Francisco, where they will be met by a bus that will finally take them to Santa Clara.
Oh, and the Rams had an extra passenger on the ride from Princeton to Pittsburgh. Pecora made a deal with the Robert Morris coaching staff that would allow the Rams to practice at the Colonial's facility in exchange for giving a ride back to Pittsburgh to Colonial sophomore forward Lijah Thompson. Thompson had gone home to Philadelphia for Christmas and was trapped there when the storm hit the east coast. But he was able to make it up to Princeton where he joined the Rams on their cross-Pennsylvania excursion.
Here are some more photos from Tuesday: Photo Gallery.
Time for bed as that 4:00 AM wakeup call is getting closer and closer. More to come tomorrow.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010, 9:00 PM (PST) - Santa Clara, Calif.
WE MADE IT! Well, most of us made it. We're still waiting on the last group to arrive here in Santa Clara.
We were greeted by temperatures in the 50's but a light rain started to fall as we made our way from the San Francisco airport to Santa Clara (about a 30 minute drive). Once here the rain became steadier and it's now coming down pretty hard. Hey, at least it's not snow.
The first two groups departed Pittsburgh early this morning with the first group being lucky enough to catch a direct flight from Pittsburgh to San Francisco. My group had a transfer in Denver before arriving at SFO (both flights arrived early as was repeatedly pointed out by the United Airlines flight crew). The third group arrived at the hotel mid-afternoon while the final group is expected in soon.
There wasn't much team activity today since the squad was split on the four flights, just a team dinner tonight and a film session that ended at 7:45 PM.
On the media front, Chris Gaston and head coach Tom Pecora were interviewed today by ESPN.com's Diamond Leung. Gaston will be featured in Leung's "Diamond in the Rough" column which will appear either next Tuesday (January 4th) or the following Tuesday (January 11th). Links to the article will be posted on Fodhamsports.com when the article runs.
It was also discovered today that both of Fordham's games at the Cable Car Classic will be video streamed live on the Santa Clara web site. Click here for live stats and video links.
Here are some photos of our day: Photo Gallery
