Basketball, Ukrainian Style
This past weekend was a fellow volunteer's birthday, so some of us took him out to a basketball game. Having only been to a few professional basketball games in my life back in the States, I have little experience to draw comparsions, but obviously, some things were similar and some things were different.
It is interesting how much basketball has been embraced practically the world over. Baseball has not really taken off in many places other than the Cuba and Japan, and American Football is barely even played in Canada, but basketball is an international phenomenon.
Our team had jerseys, but they only had numbers on the back of them, not the players name. They also seemed to range in age from about 16 or 18 to 40. Only one player that I could tell had a tattoo, and of course, they were all white.
While our team can definitely play a good game, they were playing against the worst team in the league, a team from a major city out west. Despite the lack of competition, I certainly enjoyed myself. The other volunteers had gotten floor seats, so we got to sit right in front of the action. Something that I would probably never be able to do at home in the States. One volunteer explained to me, "well, they are more expensive, but this is a special occasion." "How much?," I asked. 15 gryv. or about $3. That is the only thing that I really do appreciate about Ukraine in general. It seems that most cultural events of all types, concerts, dramas, movies, sporting events, are affordable for all people.
During breaks and half time, they also had their own dancers who would come out, wearing next to nothing, and do some gynamstic routine and dances, including some version of Queens "We Will Rock You" being sung what what sounded like 4 year olds. They similarly have some souvenir type items to sell, but focus more on the larger sport of Ukraine: football (or to you reading at home in the States, soccer). Supposedly N-- does have a football team, but I have yet to see or hear much about them, but I hope to check them out as well. Sadly for me, hockey is not a big sport in this Slavic country, and I will simply have to wait until I go home to enjoy it.
It seems that the N-- basketball team has made a new fan, and I hope to be able to go back at some point and see them play again.
It is interesting how much basketball has been embraced practically the world over. Baseball has not really taken off in many places other than the Cuba and Japan, and American Football is barely even played in Canada, but basketball is an international phenomenon.
Our team had jerseys, but they only had numbers on the back of them, not the players name. They also seemed to range in age from about 16 or 18 to 40. Only one player that I could tell had a tattoo, and of course, they were all white.
While our team can definitely play a good game, they were playing against the worst team in the league, a team from a major city out west. Despite the lack of competition, I certainly enjoyed myself. The other volunteers had gotten floor seats, so we got to sit right in front of the action. Something that I would probably never be able to do at home in the States. One volunteer explained to me, "well, they are more expensive, but this is a special occasion." "How much?," I asked. 15 gryv. or about $3. That is the only thing that I really do appreciate about Ukraine in general. It seems that most cultural events of all types, concerts, dramas, movies, sporting events, are affordable for all people.
During breaks and half time, they also had their own dancers who would come out, wearing next to nothing, and do some gynamstic routine and dances, including some version of Queens "We Will Rock You" being sung what what sounded like 4 year olds. They similarly have some souvenir type items to sell, but focus more on the larger sport of Ukraine: football (or to you reading at home in the States, soccer). Supposedly N-- does have a football team, but I have yet to see or hear much about them, but I hope to check them out as well. Sadly for me, hockey is not a big sport in this Slavic country, and I will simply have to wait until I go home to enjoy it.
It seems that the N-- basketball team has made a new fan, and I hope to be able to go back at some point and see them play again.
posted by Molly | 5:54 AM
1 Comments:
Amazingly enough I know exactly what song you're talking about. There's an album caled Kids Rock or something and it's all sung by kids. Hey Jude, some Queen tunes, and miscellaneous extras. Ridiculously popular in Taiwan. :) That's funny to me.
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