#ZalgirisOnAir. Martinas Geben talks about life in the US, Ball brothers circus and breakout in Lithuania 0

This season’s addition to the Zalgiris TV channel, the #ZalgirisOnAir podcast is nearing its tenth episode and invites you to listen to the podcast with the team’s man in the paint, Martinas Geben.

The big man joined the #ZalgirisOnAir crew Kipras Serpauskas and Lukas Gintautas in the studio for the eighth podcast and talked about everything starting with social media, American football, the Ball brothers, Sarunas Jasikevicius’ coaching methods and many other topics.

The 208cm tall center spent a lot of time in the United States of America, studying both in high school and in college. He revealed that with his height and build, people would often try to talk him into trying out American football.

“Especially when you’re taller, bigger, everyone tries to get you into American football, saying you’d be great in this position, or that position. When I was in high school, we didn’t have a football team, since it was a pretty small school. That’s why I probably didn’t even have a chance to try it. But we’d toss the ball around with classmates in the yard. There’s a bigger chance for injuries playing football, and I always tried to be safer.”

Geben also got to have a different look at the whole Ball brothers ordeal happening in Lithuania from a different perspective. According to the player, there was a lack of objectivity in the US media on this topic.

“It was a big circus. A lot of media about this whole ordeal. I saw that family from the inside a little bit, spending time in the US. Seeing that they’re not going to Vilnius, not to Kaunas, but Prienai… To such a small town, I understood it wasn’t going to be good. I was very skeptical from the get-go. They portrayed Lithuania as a village, province, 20-30 years back in time civilization-wise. Imagining it as a country with no fridges, no TVs, it wasn’t a good look for Lithuania. You all saw how many journalists from all over the world came, but there was so little constructive reporting. I liked the way it all quickly fell apart, too. When people saw their actual level, everything flipped over really quickly.”

Geben talked about everything in more detail, answered blitz and viewers’ questions – all in the latest episode of the #ZalgirisOnAir podcast, which can be found on Zalgiris’ YouTube page, and all the main podcast platforms.

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The guys talked about:

The drawbacks of being a big man, the origin of his name and last name, Twitter posts, meeting Rokas Gustys, his view on the Ball brothers and passion for The Office (0:37);
Moving to the US, after-career thoughts, learning languages, the Lithuanian anthem during an NCAA game, break-out season and Matt Farrell (13:12);
A memorable triumph in the Universiade and tryouts with the Los Angeles Lakers, an NBA dream, Zalgiris’ offer, working with Zydrunas Urbonas in Utena (30:37);
Jonas Valanciunas’ example, atmosphere in the Lithuanian national team, playing in Zalgiris, his role on the team, attention to detail, an intense conversation with Sarunas Jasikevicius, his first EuroLeague game and his toughest matchups (45:30);
Blitz questions (59:51);
Viewers’ questions (1:07:16).