And here’s the second one-on-one interview! Today on the chair? Another 2016-17 rookie, The Lithuanian wolf who doesn’t get frighten, Andrius Vilkasaitis from the Biloxi Voodoo, take a look!

Art by  pac, edits by myself.

Andrius Vilkasaitis ©  itsamadworld919
Zane Donovan © myself

All belonging to the  furrybasketball universe.

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Not a day has past since my Baraquin interview and I immediately get the call for more interested furs wanting in. Gee, are they a chipper kind. Again, going with the rookies. They may not bring readers or money as the big stars, boss says, but there is something refreshing about doing these new fellas. II chose Andrius because hey, this guy was just in the top 3 of his class months ago, so shabby he ain’t. We met up in the stadium in Flagstaff just before he got into his training for his Rookie Challenge appearance. God I hope I don’t come out as robotic and weird as the first interview, this business of interviewing ain’t easy. And if I get his name wrong, I'm fired meat.

Zane Donovan: “Good day, Andrius...”
Andrius Vilkasaitis: Hi Zane, thanks for the invitation and the honor of an interview.



ZD: “So, Tell us a bit about yourself, part of the new batch of future stars in the league?”
AV: Yeah I suppose, it is odd because I do not think like this. Future stars is for other people. I am Andrius, and that’s it. Can you imagine it, being from Lithuania, it is a honor to play for FBA, for Biloxi. Coach Wei, he and I live like that. For now he and I, I play basketball and he coaches and it takes us where wind flies. Or something like that!



ZD: “Speaking of the Voodoo, do you think Biloxi was the best first step you could have been destined to take at the moment?”
AV: (thinks for a moment) Yes. I mean, getting to play in an FBA team should be a best first step for anyone. You know how they say it? There’s “drumstame vandeny bepigu žuvauti”- or it’s good to fish in troubled waters. Even if on the surface it is a good successful team, or if not so successful or learning to cope with loss, there are troubled waters to handle. Some believe I could go to other teams and play starting position, but it would not be best for me to begin at the top - there would be nothing to work for. So… yes, I like this team.



ZD: “That’s pretty wise, you know. Anyway, you were the highest ranked guard of your year after managing to defend your position at third while Vastenhout fell from second to fourth. What do you think made you stand out in a year where, as a guard, everyone tried to look for the tallest, baddest furs?”
AV: Tallest and baddest?! What do you think of this? (flexes arm) Bad, huh? So bad… No I understand what you say. Can you realize perhaps that, maybe a good player is focused on playing?! I see so many championships and trophies, and the Vastenhout wants to do so much that he slowed down on the court - I’m not trying to be a musician on sidejob, or be model, or take victorian attitude, catch whale, whatever - Zane, it is basketball that I am playing with my teammates. I can enjoy a new life in America and participate in life when … when there is proof that basketball was successful. The furs I play with have all sorts of stories and we know Biloxi fans want to win. We do this for them right now. None of this side-nonsense.



ZD: “Hopefully you managed to find something out of the court. One needs his little R&R every now and then...”
AV: Traveling, eating, dining… of course. Boating is popular in Biloxi, I want to get a vacation boat. But I don't let these things interfere with my job.



ZD: “Who of your draft class you consider your biggest competition?”
AV: (thinks a bit more) Jonas McMillan. He plays now for Huntsville and we are very similar, we have to play each other all the time. But… hehe, we have vices with each other. Fellow wolf, plays guard well, has a mellow attitude. There are many comparisons with us, even during draft.



ZD: “If we look at the first top 3 of your year… Finland... the Netherlands... Lithuania. All the original top 3 were from the land across the Atlantic. Do you think there’s something that makes Europeans stand out from the American players?”
AV: What do you think it means when European furs come to America and are better than Americans? It means that Americans are one part of the world, and we share the world with all these countries, and some of us wish to be successful and - ahem - make money, so we come to America. I do not know what, if it was coincidence or a bad year of selections. I like many of the furs I was in with the draft. Perhaps it is time to bring nondramatic approach to basketball after so many years of drama.



ZD: “So in all, you’d say it’s less glitz and more focus...”
AV: Of course. Because from perspective of Lithuania, you have to be a warrior. You’re isolated. The world must get up and see. Maybe in future when recognition is earned… maybe when I have shown and proved myself, maybe then we can be glitzy. But there’s no point now to take a vacation when you first be hired for job.



ZD: “And it’s a job that is certainly useful for creating waves, indeed. Can you tell us what life in Lithuania is like and have you gotten any response from them since your drafting?”
AV: There is sense of pride in Lithuania, in my home town of Klaipeda. There have been new wave of fans from Lithuania, my friends and family tell me about the good comments and praises. I do not know how much they can see the games from Europe but there is special new fanbase for Biloxi! As for life in Lithuania, it can be challenging. We have still ramifications from Russian history. People remember hard times, I was young but in flux. Family nearly moved to West Germany. But life is also beautiful and rewarding. We have nationalistic pride for being a unique country. We have great weather and, umm… fresh, you say? Fresh forests, and even some sandy beaches! Take me to the coast any time, I grew up close to water, so when I could do so we would take trips to beaches and play sports on the sand and water.



ZD: “Tell us something no one outside yourself knows...”
AV: Something that nobody knows? Well… maybe it is that I have never - oops, never have a social media in my life! (laughs) Every one of the teammates wants me to try tweeter or the snoutbook … but I have nothing to say or show the world online. Everything that I can show, you see on the television screens, in the game broadcasts… that is me. And if I have to hide it, well, for good reason!

ZD: “All that despite apparently being very active on your own and having a bit of a crazy side to you, your ink for example, why don’t you explain us that side?”
AV: Nobody asks? … No, that’s not right answer, but, I don’t know, I guess I do appreciate having somewhat a private life when not in public for playing basketball. As for ink of hawk tattoo, this is big daily reminder for me to put forth the effort. I see the tattoo every day of my life. It reminds me that hawks never give up when they go to catch their prey. That’s how I feel. If I want my career to be basketball, I cannot give up and not put forth the effort.



ZD: (my timer ticks off, signaling I must wrap up) “Really glad to have had you here with me. Any words to conclude this interview?”
AV: Uhhh… what’s for lunch? Can we go to deli?

Note to self: never offer to invite any player. You don’t know if you could get a Zack Tate-level of appetite from anyone of these guys, even if they are a foot shorter than the legendary hungry zorilla.