Athletes Who Say Idiotic Things About Travel: Brandon Jennings

Travel Blog  •  Michael Yessis  •  06.17.09 | 3:00 PM ET

The quote for this inaugural Athletes Who Say Idiotic Things About Travel post comes from Brandon Jennings, who played basketball in Italy last year and hopes to play in the NBA in the upcoming season. The Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg asked him what he learned during his season in Italy.

From Steinberg’s story:

“That over here, it’s just great over here,” he said of the United States. “Over there, you know, they have a lot of struggles. You know, the economy’s not that great, they don’t make a lot of money, just the way they live is different from here.”

See, I always thought living in Rome would be sort of a dream. I asked him what was different.

“Well, we [didn’t] have a dryer,” he said. “We have to hang our clothes outside. So that was one thing that was really tough for us, you know, hang-drying our clothes. You know, not having all the fast food. Just the way they live is totally different. A lot of things be closed on the weekends and things like that.”

Panda Express, he said, was the fast food he missed the most. Living in Italy. I’m serious.

What a shame. As a calorie-burning professional athlete, he probably could have been eating more than his share of pasta with impunity.



2 Comments for Athletes Who Say Idiotic Things About Travel: Brandon Jennings

Turner 06.17.09 | 5:18 PM ET

*GASP*  We can’t rely on what our celebrities tell us???  My world is turned upside down.

James Van Dellen 06.17.09 | 5:39 PM ET

There’s plenty of fast food in Europe.  Is there one city where street carts don’t flourish most seasons?  I’ve traveled solo in Europe and have many times enjoyed light “fast food” meal from street vendors and sandwiches from coffee spots.

I can sympathize with the “closed” comment - when I visit Europe I often go to grocery stores too, and I have to adjust from the 24/7 mindset to know they’ll be closed at a reasonable hour for the staff to be with their family.

I’m not complaining and I appreciate that quality of life - but it takes me a couple days to get used to it…

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