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Justin Love & Odessa, Ukraine


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We've all seen the the riots occurring in Odessa in the last day. 42 dead yesterday after a riot and a fire at a Trade Union Hall. The riots took place just blocks from where Justin Love plays basketball for the BC Odessa Sharks in the Ukrainian Superleague.

Several weeks ago when I was updating the exploits of former Billikens in Europe I saw that Love had left his Odessa team that he had played on for several seasons inexplicably in the beginning of March. I foolishly failed to put two and two together. Love and 2 other American teammates had left the team for security reasons because of all the unrest in Crimea. Love did manage to return a couple weeks ago for the playoffs. Unfortunately his team lost 0-2 in the first round, no wonder with Love having not played in 40 days and the roster having been stretched thin because of absence of the Americans who play large roles on the team. Love spoke at a season ending press conference in Odessa on the 23rd of April, you can read about it here.

Hopefully in the meantime Justin has been able to make it out of the country. Here are some other links from the BC Odessa team site

Article on Love leaving the team in mid season

Article naming Love the best player in the history of the Odessa franchise

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Love if you get into the sh*t message me via Billikens.com. I have a certain skill-set....

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From Russia with Love.....a great James Bond movie memory. I couldn't find an English translation button on any of the torch's links. But I hope if he leaves Odessa he comes home to San Francisco to play in the Summer Pro-Am League again. He was also MVP there several years ago.

www.sanfranciscoproam.com

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If you are on chrome it shpuld translate automatically. For most other browsers if you allow the page to load then right click there should be a translate option.

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If you are on chrome it shpuld translate automatically. For most other browsers if you allow the page to load then right click there should be a translate option.

Chrome>any other web browser

Best of luck to Justin and his teammates, let's hope they make it out alright.

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Justin is scheduled to be an in-studio guest with McGraw Milhaven on KTRS Radio in St Louis just after 9am on Tuesday,May 13. You can watch the interview on KTRS.com as they stream video of their show.

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It's just "Ukraine," not "The Ukraine," McGraw.

Nice to see the shirtless celebrant in J. Love's highlight video make an appearance.

The only thing missing was the shark stirring it up behind the basket and those adorable cheerleaders.

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That's what I was thinking. You basically did the leg work.

Honestly its a good thing for Justin to get some pub. He's a hometown guy, still lives in the area. McGraw runs a news show primarily and he lobbed up softballs for Justin. I believe Love could have given a much more broader and personal view of the situation there. They mostly talked about his experiences as a basketball player and McGraw obviously did little honework or had much interest in it
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Great interview and its nice to see Justin doing so well. Said he's currently living in Troy IL and if he doesn't find something to do in basketball next year he'll try to get a 9 to 5 job. If he does go down that path hopefully we'll see him at the Chaifetz. Truly a great Billiken.

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