To say that last night's victory by the Australian Boomers over Germany was unexpected is an understatement. Sure, there was always the chance of a win for the Boomers -- and all in attendance from both countries agreed that it would be a tight match -- but for Australia to pull off this dismantling of Germany was a sizeable surprise.

The following entry was originally posted on the Official FIBA "BBall" App available on Nokia mobile phones. Get the app for yourself via the Ovi Store.

Watching three games of FIBA basketball per day is no easy task (I hear your hearts going out to us!). The emotion involved in watching one thrilling basketball battle after another drains fans of vital energy. And where do they turn to replenish this? The fine restaurants of Turkey, of course.

The World Championships are pumping along just nicely, with the second day of action now under way.

Day one in Kayseri saw a mixed bag of results. Firstly the Aussies gave their fans near heart-attacks with their last gasp win over lowly-ranked Jordan. Andrew Vlahov was in the stands to cheer the Boomers on. Defence was the main deficiency for the Aussies as they let the Jordanians waltz in for numerous uncontested baskets. The only Aussie performances of note came from David Andersen and Aleks Maric. In fact, Maric's performance was so dominant that I had German girls in my hotel asking what NBA team he played for. He was the cog inside that the boomers definitely needed with Andrew Bogut's absence. Meanwhile, Patty Mills didn't show enough on either end to justify my usual man-love for him.

Next up we saw Serbia tear African champions Angola to pieces. They were simply too big for Angola and came away as 50 point winners.

The marquee matchup of the day saw an always tough Argentina take on a youthful Germany. The crowd participation in this one was integral, as the Argies showed off their chants against the Deutsch drummers. The game was tight during the first half, with Germany leading marginally most of the way, until Argentina pulled away in the third. Germany took advantage of their opponents' seemingly napping in the fourth to pull thee game right back to level, behind some stellar play by guards Steffen Hamann and Demond Greene. However the experienced Argentinians managed to hold out for a tight victory.

Day two sees Australia attempt to withstand the might of Argentina, a potential nail-biter between Germany and Serbia and another potential tight one between Angola and Jordan.

Whilst updates to A Stern Warning usually have to wait til I return to my hotel at night, twitter updates @ASternWarning come thick and fast during the games, so make sure following...

Two videos have just been released of the Jordan Challenge on NBA 2K11 -- and boy, it's exciting me already. We've basically got Bulls v Blazers 2.0 here... complete with Clyde the Glide, Cliff Robinson and Terry Porter. Sure, there's a lot of focus on Michael Jordan in this aspect of the game, but having close-to-authentic 1992 Blazers (and other opponents) on hand is just as good, if not better.

Check out both of the videos here:

For those that missed the Team USA v Greece warmup game yesterday, you can check out the highlights below. Ultimately, it wasn't a close game, but Greece always had the excuse that they were missing three key players. Bring on the real games!

Just quickly: the whisper on the street is that Patty Mills is in negotiations with the Portland Trail Blazers to secure another contract for the upcoming season. Obviously this would be pending some move made with respect to Rudy Fernandez, but surely something is in the works there (given the hostile situation).

The news that Patty will again be a Blazer is very good indeed.

Finally it has almost arrived. The 2010 FIBA World Championships tip off in Turkey in just over two days and I will be there on the ground, trying to give you coverage of as many matches as possible.

If you have a Nokia new-generation phone, then make sure you download the BBALL app through the Ovi Store, as I will be part of a team updating the app content as the championships roll on. And hopefully there will be plenty of coverage right here at A Stern Warning as well.

Meanwhile, as I sit on a very long plane ride, check out a couple of videos from recent days.

The shoe industry in basketball has become one of the most lucrative apparel industries in all of sport. As a result, companies have been benefitting from this multi-billion dollar industry for years, with Nike and Adidas routinely at the forefront of all discussions.

These companies ability to sign the star players that come into the NBA on a yearly basis is not simply due to their reputation amongst athletes, but due to the work that they do at the grassroots level in an attempt to expose teenage basketball players to their products at a young age. The high school basketball All-Star game circuit is a dizzying mix of shoe companies vying for highly touted recruits' attention. The thought process is that if a given player commits to playing at a certain company's event, say the Jordan Classic, then they will be more likely to play for a college team that is endorsed by Nike, Jordan's parent company.

After months of preparation and trials, the Australian Boomers 2010 World Championships team has been named. And it's mostly as expected. Let's take a look...