Last night I went to my first event, USA Basketball vs. Greece. I totally lucked out with the tickets. I happened to be on Facebook and my old friend Leon popped up on the chat, “Hey, you’re in Beijing?” He mentioned that he had tickets and I mentioned that I really wanted tickets and POOF! He gave me a ticket.
I didn’t really pay much attention to the game, my Basketball loving brother would kill me, but I was more excited about the half time show (Chinese Laker Girls and goofy mascots running rampant on the court).
The crowd was mostly Chinese, and let me tell you, the Chinese are very well behaved. Sometimes it felt like I was watching Golf or Tennis, you could hear a pin drop. There was no raucous cheering or booing like I’m used to at American sporting events. I also noticed that we (Westerners) were the only ones drinking beer (only $1.25 by the way) This helped us to liven things up, USA USA USA!
They golf clapped when they saw slam dunks and three pointers but the biggest reaction came when one of the inflatable mascots fell down on the court and couldn’t get up. I must admit that this was my favorite part as well.
I’ve been hearing a lot about empty seats and it’s true. There were TONS of empty seats! Good seats too, large sections down by the court where you could high five Carmelo. I was told that these luxurious areas are reserved by corporate sponsors and they usually don’t come close to filling them. Bummer.
I was glad to be there rooting for the USA but we actually rooted for everyone, we even shared the love with teams that weren’t playing (Go China Go China!) Our friendly seat mates beside us likes this one and they countered with a ‘We love USA!”
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2 Comments
Dude, that’s awesome! I woulda loved to see that game live. Especially with $1.25 beer, lol!
Your brother is mad, you witnessed one of the best basketball teams ever fielded and you hardly even noticed. Well, it looked like fun anyway though