Thursday, January 10, 2013

MBB BLOG - DANNY BERGER - 01-10-13

Hey everyone! I am extremely thankful that I have a chance to do this blog once again. I hope these words will portray some of the thoughts and feelings I have been having over the last month, but doubt that they will come close. I have put a lot of thought into what I would like to say, so hopefully it comes out right.

First of all, I thank God for the miracle He performed on December 4. I will try to refrain from getting too religious, but I know God lives, and He orchestrated the things that happened that day. I know a lot of people look at what happened to me and think that it was an enormous trial and wonder why it happened, but in all honesty, it has turned out to be an extremely great blessing in so many different ways. My faith in God has been strengthened tremendously, and the way I view human existence has changed dramatically. We forget a lot of things as humans, and this was a huge reminder of what is really important in life. I am forever in debt to my Heavenly Father for this.

I would now like to thank the people who have helped me tremendously throughout this entire experience. My family has obviously been a huge support to me not only during the past five weeks, but my entire life. I love them each individually. I cannot imagine what my parents went through as they heard the news and were several hours away from me at the time. My brother and sister are my best friends in this world, and I could not have done this without them. I could not have been placed in a better family here on earth.

Many of you are aware of the people who were on the scene who helped save my life. Please forgive me if I forget anyone because the list of people who helped me could be very long. I would like to take another moment to thank them again. Athletic trainer Mike Williams is the first of these I want to thank. His skill set and quickness to act was pivotal in my survival. Jessie Parker, our team manager, my roommate and friend knew exactly where the AED was at the moment of my collapse. His awareness and clarity of mind made it possible for Mike to do what he did. The coaches who were also trained in CPR need to be thanked. The paramedics who rushed to the Spectrum and doctors and nurses who worked on me and did the necessary things to preserve my life and memory are owed a thank you. My fellow teammates were huge in the whole situation, and I cannot imagine what they were going through. I also thank everyone who thought or prayed for me or sent me a message or a card or anything like that for what they did. I have realized how great the Aggie family really is. Thousands of people pulled together and have made this process a lot easier. The USU football team and their support, as well as the support from all the other teams, means a lot.

I was able to go home to Oregon for about a week which was great. I was able to see people who were also worried sick about what was going on. I helped get things back in order, and I was even able to catch a few of my high school team’s games which was awesome, but I am grateful to be back in Logan and starting school.

Rehab is going very well so far. With the defibrillator in my chest, activity is limited for a while, but I have been exercising on the stationary bike and even been jogging a little. I am taking things slow one day at a time and know I will be back to full strength on the court again some day soon. I have realized an important lesson which was hard to understand before all of this. I am extremely blessed to have been playing the game of basketball my entire life, but especially at this level and this specific institution. I realize that more and more each day as I sit and watch practice. I love the game and miss it already, but understand now that it has been such a great experience to be able to receive such great enjoyment from the game. I love basketball and playing here at Utah State.

Thanks again to all the people who have pulled together and saved my life.

Love,
Danny Berger

Monday, December 3, 2012

Let's go get us another W!

Wow! What can I say about this week. It was a great win at Santa Clara. It was one of the craziest games I have ever been a part of. They are a really good team and it was a battle the entire way. I was proud of all the guys for never giving in as every one of us contributed to the win. It was great to finally be on the road with the guys and it is always a good chance to bond with each other. You only have each other when you’re in someone else's gym and you have to stick together to come out on top. We did a good job of that and now we have our second road game of the year against another good team. I can’t stop thinking about that game and some of the highlights. I had a great view of Kyisean’s monster dunk and Preston’s unbelievable three to tie the game. Jordan Stone also made some clutch free throws, and through some mistakes and adversity, we came out on top. It’s good to get a road win like that win at Santa Clara but we cannot relax because we have bigger plans than winning one game. This week of practice is going to be very important and we need to get better everyday. It was a great first road trip to start the season, now lets go get us another W!

Friday, October 26, 2012

Aggie Basketball Is Back!

Well it is the start to another year of Aggie basketball! It is an exciting time of year with college football in full effect and college basketball starting up. A big shout out to the Aggie football team so far this year - Let’s keep the wins coming! As for this year’s basketball team, we are all very optimistic at the chance we have to be a good team. Summer and fall workouts were a huge benefit as we had most of the guys in Logan. It has been great getting to know all of the new guys and being able to work on our team chemistry on the court. Practices so far have been good, there is competition everyday which will only make us better. Everyone is together and buying in to the system which will benefit us greatly. The first game has snuck up on us pretty quick but we are all excited and ready to play.

I think it is fair to speak for everyone when I say that we have all worked hard on our games this summer. Getting in the weight room has been a huge emphasis with us, but also developing our games on the court. It was good for me to be able to go back to Oregon and get a full summer under my belt lifting and getting shots up. We hope that we can all have fun playing basketball together while giving the fans a good show! Go Aggies!

-- Danny Berger