UNLV Athletic Department

The UNLV men’s basketball team visits the Sydney Opera House during its exhibition tour in Australia.

By René Rougeau

Published Thursday, June 26, 2008 | 9:44 a.m.

Updated Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008 | 10:15 a.m.

(Filed at 3:12 p.m., June 26, 2008, Sydney time)

It’s our second day in Sydney, and I’m finally getting used to the time change. It’s about 6:45 a.m. and Beas and I are sitting down to eat breakfast with Coach Mike Shepherd. The breakfast put me right back to sleep.

As you’ll learn, I love to sleep more than anything else. Around 9:30 am the entire gang gathered in the lobby to head to a tour of the Sydney Opera House.

UNLV Athletic Department

The UNLV men's basketball team visits the Sydney Opera House during the squad's exhibition tour in Australia.

I thought Las Vegas and my hometown Rancho Cucamonga were windy, but Sydney definitely put them to shame. The theatres inside the Opera House were very intriguing and they all were different from one another.

Comedian Frank Woodley performs in one of the theatres, and looks to have a good show. Hopefully I can catch one of his performances.

Our tour guide, Sue, was a very nice lady who did an excellent job of informing us on all of the history of the Opera House.

Oh, how could I forget, I have to give a shout out to Uncle Wade and his family that are on the trip with us. His family, along with Coach Grensing’s daughters, are trying to go bungee jumping and walk on top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge that can be viewed right behind the Opera House.

It is said that you are “safe” up there to walk. We were able to see people walking all the way at the top of the bridge but it did not look like something that I was interested in taking part in at all!

While waiting for our tour to start, I bought my sister Dominique a Sydney Opera House snowball and my stepmother, Marie, an Opera House magnet for their refrigerator back home in Rancho Cucamonga.

UNLV Athletic Department

The UNLV men's basketball team visits the Sydney Harbour Bridge during the squad's exhibition tour in Australia.

It’s rough not having a phone out here because I wish I could talk to all my family and friends back home and let them know how our experience is going so far.

After the tour Wink Adams, Tre’Von Willis, and myself walked around to grab a bite to eat. Burger King is known as Hungry Jacks out here but is still that good old char-broiled burger that we all love.

They also have McDonald’s but that’s where it stops; No Wendy’s, Jack in the Box, In-N-Out, etc. There is a Subway that the team ate at yesterday.

I think I’m getting all the guys hooked on rugby because we can’t stop watching it, we find it even more interesting than football seeing that they don’t have any pads on to protect themselves.

We have come to the conclusion that rugby is a sport of toughness and a great deal of physicality. Also, you have to be very crazy to play this game because these guys play without any fear out there on the field. I think I’ll just stick to basketball.

We finally have our first game today and I’m very excited about that. While we were walking back to our hotel, we ran into one of the players for the Sutherland Sharks. He was a very nice lad (as they say here), and seemed excited about the game as well.

My teammates and I feel like we are in the Matrix because everyone here in downtown is dressed in business attire, whether it’s suits, dresses, etc. I feel out of place to an extent, seeing that I’m in warm-up clothes. But I am not really worried about it because I’m extra comfortable and that’s what matters in the end, right?

It has been a great day overall, even though it is only 2:30 p.m. right now. But at least it’s nap time before the game. I learned a great deal about the Opera House today and definitely take a great deal of appreciation away with me from the tour.

I was a little disappointed to find out that the main architect of the Opera House was fired during the actual building of it because the government felt that he was taking forever to finish it and that it was costing more money than they were expecting.

Since the Opera House has been open, the architect has never come to view it and, more than anything, enjoy his masterpiece. I found that to be a great tragedy because the building is probably one of the most significant landmarks in the world.

Our tour guide noted that about seven million people visit the Opera House each year and that it is home to some of the greatest actors and actresses in history, for example, Mel Gibson, Kate Blanchett, and Russell Crowe.

We have a big game ahead of us so it is time for me to go get re-energized. GO REBELS! I will talk to you all tomorrow. Have a great day.

Love Yours Truly,

Rene Rougeau #24

To see additional coverage of the Rebels, check out the team’s official site, Runnin’ Down Under.