Fenerbahce/Ulker arrives this evening in Athens, will train tomorrow at OAKA and already one of the members on the delegations is contemplating on this “tomorrow”; tomorrow’s practice in the morning and the game in the evening. Mike Batiste, a few hours before his present team departs from Istanbul heading to the “Eleftherios Venizelos” airport, speaks of his… ex and possibly… next team; but also of all that Panathinaikos BC has in store for him.
“It is something I never expect for it to happen. I am genuinely happy that I am returning “home”, to a place I experienced so many, which gave me so many. It is always tough to play versus a team you have competed in. Imagine how tough it is when it is a team you have played in for 9 years and have experienced all the things I have in Panathinaikos. And, it is not only the team. It is the fans, that were there for better and for worst but who mainly supported me during the tough times. It is not something I have forgotten”.
When reminded that he will be at the OAKA but not in his familiar locker rooms, Batiste stresses: “It will be the first time to find myself in different locker rooms, enter through a different door, sit on a different bench… It is tough and weird. I play for Fenerbahce/Ulker and I will make the effort for my team, as I always do. This is something anybody who knows me knows. We want to qualify onto the Top16 and we need the win. On the other hand it won’t be at all easy. The whole deal will be very sentimentally intense; from tip-off to final buzzer… And I know it all too well… As I know that I am happy to return to Greece, because it is a special place to me, which will always be close to my heart. It is always a blessing for me to return to Greece”.
In any event it is his friends from Greece who have taken care of informing him from the very first minute that Panathinaikos BC is planning on honoring him during the game’s half time recess: “Honestly I am at a loss for words… I am happy about the gesture, because it made me feel that I genuinely have a special place in the Panathinaikos history. When I signed my first contract, never could I have imagined the road we would have gone down together and where I personally would have managed to reach. All I knew was that if I kept up the good work I could aid in us achieving something, getting somewhere. This move on behalf of the team is something special to me, to my wife, to my son and generally all the members of my family who know all too well what Panathinaikos means to me”.
Batiste might have made a decision this summer past but a return to Panathinaikos in the future is anything but out of the question: “We’ll see… At the moment I am a Fenerbahce/Ulker player; I will try to do the best for my team… I hope the door is still open for me. You never know what the future holds. It is so unpredictable. I hope to receive the same love. And you never know…”
