Mika

So Mika is one player I had met before she joined the team.  I drove her to the airport after her visit the weekend of the South Florida game in 2010.  I got up really early, maybe around 6:30am and drove to Dulski's apartment to pick her up to bring her home.  Mika did not show the signs of someone with a huge personality at the time.  I'm sure we made small talk, but I have no idea what we spoke about, other than that a former player who I never knew, but had watched, named Sarah Stanczyk, was someone Mika knew.

The most eventful part of the trip was right before Mika got out of the car.  I wished her well and for some reason instinctively went, "You have everything?"  I don't remember if I looked under her seat or went "You sure you have your wallet? your ipod? your CELL PHONE?"  but thankfully my instincts were correct.  Mika's phone was under her seat and thankfully it was found before anyone went too far.

By the time pre-season had started I'm not sure if she remembered who I was or not.  It's always funny with freshman and how awkward it can be meeting them.  I think I actually tried to be distant with the freshman since I knew I'd only be here for a small part of their time at UConn.  However, I didn't remain distant all that long.

I don't think my first memory of Mika came until we had our 90 minute interview with her and Charno.  It was hilarious and mostly because of Mika.  She has a personality.  Like jalapenos, she spices things up.

That was the worst line I've ever written.

Mika was so good at making stuff up on the fly on camera which is a really hard thing to do.  She was just freaking funny. No one else could make eating a gummy worm off the ground seem so awesome.  No one else could have pulled off the Halloween costumes and getting candy or vegetables in August. 

She once ordered me as a side on a food order.  That was quite unforgettable.  I don't know what possessed her to do that, but it did make for an interesting conversation with the restauraunt we ordered from.

"We don't have what Bussey ordered?"

"Just ignore that, she was just messing around"

They did call about things like that.  I don't remember if I brought it up with them, or they brought it up with me, but I did explain to them to ignore it.

I probably should have just crossed it out, but quite frankly I thought it was too different, or funny to actually do that.  

Mika made something routine and boring, less boring by doing this.  People with great personalities and people who are really funny can take the boring and routine situations in life and make them fun and interesting.  Mika definitely has that skill and I think it's an important one.  Imagine how boring it is without her around.  She brings a lot with her personality.  Who wouldn't miss Mika?

Mika and Charno helped make things fun for me by willingly putting themselves on camera often.

Originally I was going to have Mika Irish Dance after Drea, because she was the only person I thought would be crazy enough to do it.  Mika still tried too.

Irish dancing was not her thing, but she is the first and only player to my knowledge to have ever done the inchworm into the goal at Morrone Stadium.

Mika's voice is amazing.  I hope I can watch her sing the anthem before a game.  She tried out for a show on NBC and wanted to sing the National Anthem before a basketball game. 

Mika and I had a miscommunication about her singing the National Anthem at one point though.  I was asked if I could get a player to recite the Pledge of Allegiance before a big Men's Basketball game on ESPN.  I knew that the only player who would realistically consider doing it would be Mika.  She said yes, but she misunderstood that it was the Pledge and not singing the National Anthem. On Facebook her status read something like "Singing the National Anthem before the Men's Game Tonight on ESPN."  I quickly corrected her and as it turned out she had no interest in reading the pledge from the jumbo tron.  She just wanted to sing the Anthem.  To me, both are nerve wracking.  But reading seems easier than singing...

I thought Mika was so crazy that I was sure she was the one who was doing the dancing in the talent show instead of Dre.

Mika was also famous for calling "cross bar" and then hitting anything but that. 

I do think she has a very powerful shot, but I would not pick her for the cross bar challenge.   

I know I am forgetting a lot about Mika at this point.  I've already been away so long, and thinking about so many different things that I've actually sort of begun to forget a few things.  I really have to sit and think to come up with stories and memories. 

One thing I really want to do though is put Mika Bussey and Kemba Walker in the same sentence. 

You can now google "Mika & Kemba" 

Sounds like a show for Bravo.

Mika pretty much came up with that story by herself.  Charno helped a little I think, but Mika went with it and tried very hard to make it believable.  Mika made it seem as if some people on the team, especially Dulski and Celeste, really believed that Kemba traveled to Michigan to see Mika.  (you can now google Kemba traveled to Michigan to see Mika)

I believed that Dulski believed Mika so I made sure to interview Dulski on the matter.  As gullible as Dulski is I'm very happy that within a few minutes Dulski seemed to be more "realistic" and that Mika was full of it. 

Mika also had one of my favorite parts of a pre-game video and it was wishing Cory a "Happy Rosh Hashanah."

Anyway, Mika is awesome.  I may have forgotten a few things, but in summary she makes things fun.  I wish her all the luck in the world with a music career and hope the rest of her soccer career goes well.  If you don't like Mika there is something wrong with you. 

Now go get a you tube account and like her video. 

Now

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i86m_Qp6Af4