Hagen. Curious car breakdowns, crazy derbies: in cabin whispers, the Breckerfeld basketball player Fabian Bleck tells curious stories from his career.
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No other “Hagen boy” is currently as much on the BBL floor as he: Fabian Bleck has made a name for itself in Germany’s highest-ranking basketball class, is with the playoff team Crailsheim Merlins important support and team captain. The 27-year-old enjoyed his training at his hometown club, TuS Breckerfeld, and later at Phoenix Hagen and its cooperation partner Noma Iserlohn.
The winger tells the strangest stories in conversation with the special stage and his former team-mates Yannick Opitz and Sören Fritze, but he experienced something completely different. Curtain up for the 10th episode of cabin whispers:
The other flashlight
You have to put it this way: Americans feel as comfortable on German road traffic as fish on land. Basketball clubs in particular can sing painful songs about it. And especially the polar bears Bremerhaven. When Fabian Bleck played in the far north, he had a teammate from the States who felt almost followed by a supposed fan. Every day this fan took a picture of him when he was on his way to training. Always at the same place. With a bright flash.
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At some point, Bremerhaven’s managing director asked the player to come to his office for an interview. “He asked him how he managed to be flashed in the same place every day,” laughs Bleck. But the US basketball player was firmly convinced: It was a fan who always photographed him. It was not just Bleck who fell apart when he heard the story. “I have never experienced anything like it. You lose a bit of faith in humanity. “
Off through the barrier
For some US basketball players, traffic and information signs are also books with seven seals. “A couple of guys from our team wanted to celebrate in a club and have parked their car in a parking lot,” explains Fabian Bleck. His teammates partied until 4 a.m. before they left the disco and wanted to go home. The problem: The barrier had been down since 10 p.m. and was only let up again at 7 a.m. But that did not prevent the troops from taking the car from the parking lot. “They crashed through the bar at full speed,” says Bleck. And how could it be otherwise: The scenery was filmed. Bremerhaven’s managing director had to ask for an interview again. His question to the party-mad boys: Do you still have all the cups in the cupboard? “They wanted to make it look like an accident first, but our manager had the surveillance video. The car was badly damaged and the boys had to pay a fine, ”says Fabian Bleck.
If a car broke down because of, say, atypical driving style, the athletes’ reaction was sometimes strange too. A teammate Blecks, who once played in the NBA, took it to extremes. The basketball player wanted to go to Hamburg by car and then take a plane to Munich. But the company car got stuck on the highway. A case for the ADAC? No, the player called a taxi and was taken to the airport. After the weekend, the police reported to the polar bears. There is a company car of the Bundesliga club on the hard shoulder. “The player just didn’t care,” grins Bleck and shakes his head. But who was not indifferent to it: the Bremerhaven manager. He had to ask for a conversation again.
Locked in the hotel
There are some parallels between the Eisbären Bremerhaven and Phoenix Hagen. One is that in the BBL fear of relegation was the constant companion. In 2017/18, when Phoenix started in the ProA after the bankruptcy, the North Germans trembled until the end. While Bremerhaven had a game themselves at the time, promoted Gotha fought to stay in the league at the same time. It was clear: if Gotha loses, Bremerhaven’s relegation is assured. A nerve crime. “Chris Harris was our assistant coach and followed the Gotha game on his mobile phone in the live ticker, we always looked over at him,” remembers Bleck. Gotha lost, the polar bears stayed in the BBL. “That was a blatant experience,” Bleck thinks back to the tension. But then that year the time had come: Bremerhaven played a lousy season and entered the number two league.
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Bleck moved to another small BBL club: the Crailsheim Merlins, with whom he is now in his second season. But the people of Baden-Württemberg have nothing to do with the descent. As a starter, Bleck played a major role in Crailsheim’s making it into the playoffs in 2020. And who knows what would have been possible with your own fans. But Corona only allowed ghost games. In a one-off campaign, Germany’s elite basketball class created a “bubble” in a Munich hotel. Contact with the outside world was only possible via Skype or telephone. A curious experience for Bleck. “We were locked there for two weeks. When you haven’t trained or played, you sit downstairs in the lobby with the players from other teams. ”You could also sit down with the referees and have a drink. Depending on the mood, the players did that too. “All in all, it was an extreme, but very funny event,” says Bleck.
Kisses from Grothe
The 2.01 meter tall Forward remembers his time with the Iserlohn Kangaroos with a smile. From 2010 to 2014 Bleck played with a double license for Phoenix Hagen and the Waldstädter. In 2014 it was BG Hagen’s worst competitor. One of the most memorable derbies between local rivals took place almost exactly seven years ago. 800 spectators clapped and roared, the Eilper Otto-Densch-Halle was bursting at the seams. “Everything that had rank and name in basketball in Hagen was there,” remembers Bleck. The Breckerfelder made an outstanding game. On the other side: his good friend Sören Fritze, who was a development player for the BG, but didn’t have the best memories of the duel. Especially not at Iserlohn’s buffalo-like US center Chris Ellis, who was bursting with energy. “It was a real monster,” recalls Bleck. “When I threw a threesome, he just brought the ball down halfway through the trajectory. He must have blocked me four times in the first quarter, ”remembers Fritze and laughs.
But Ellis was also a bully on the basketball court. When he caught BG-Center Theo Ioannidis with his elbow in the third quarter, the American was thrown off the field because of unsportsmanlike conduct. In the first half, the Iserlohn team also lost Kris Schwarz, who twisted his knee. A lot spoke for the BG Hagen, but the Iserlohner around their coach Matthias Grothe burned off a fireworks display.
Fabian Bleck turned up and scored from all angles. Even after seven years, BG fans have not forgotten that Kangaroos player Joshua Dahmen extended his middle finger to them. Despite the unsightly scene, Iserlohn was the deserved winner (88:58), who was celebrated by his fans, because a big step towards the championship was taken.
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A couple of times after the game, the Otto-Densch-Halle shook when Ellis and Grothe collided with their upper bodies at the Humba. The coach was proud of his team, Bleck remembers that. “Matthias has already given me a lot of unpleasant bludgers on the neck”, grins Fabian Bleck, “but after this game he gave me a kiss on the forehead.”
+++ Info +++
In the “Cabin Whispers” series, current and former greats of Hagen basketball talk about incisive, curious and funny moments in their careers. The next episode will feature Chase Griffin (March 16).
Our newspaper launched the series in cooperation with basketball players Yannick Opitz and Sören Fritze, who are active in the first regional division BG Hagen.
