It's Never Just About the Ball

POR-ZIN-GIIIIIS!

For someone who is rubbish at all sports and have on-going nightmares of high school PE classes, it always fascinates me how sports can 'unite a nation'.  (Invictus anyone?)  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invictus_(film)
I myself is no one to judge - I felt pretty proud to hold a Kiwi passport in both 2011 and a few weeks ago when the All Blacks won the Rugby World Cup back to back (part of it was because Nelson supported the Wallabies - nothing works up my patriotism like a competition between husband and wife hahaha).

In my younger days I never understood 'what the point is' when a bunch of grown men bust their balls fighting for one ball, and the crowd who go absolutely gaga for it.  However, now older and wiser (do not dispute me on the wiser bit please), I feel I am starting to appreciate the value such sports brings - and it's never just about the ball is it?

I have been looking forward to go see a NBA game ever since I found out our apartment is only 15 minutes walking distance from America's most famous 'garden'.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madison_Square_Garden  This night we were going to find out who was the better team - New York Knicks or Charlotte Hornets?  (I heard from my friends neither team is hot at the moment.  I love rooting for the underdog unfortunately at this stage it was not clear who the top dog was)

Now let me share the lessons of my maiden voyage into the world of NBA with you:

1) Don't starve yourself:
Before we got ourselves immersed in the game, important business needed to be taken care of: i.e. hotdog and beer.  Unfortunately (or fortunately depends on your outlook on life) the beer counter does not accept my Australian Driver's License and asked to see a passport before selling me beer.  (Who brings a passport to go see a basketball game!?) Hence you can see in below photo that I had to settle for a 'soda'.  I bought a yummy hot pretzel to make up for it though.

Ketchup and mustard squeezing
really is harder than you may think.

2) You don't need to know the players to enjoy the game:
Even after some pretty intense studying of the players, I only managed to remember Carmelo 'Melo' Anthony (and that is mainly because of his nickname - Taiwanese news calls him 'sweet melon' - how can I forget a guy named after a fruit).  I shouldn't have worried - not only the MC (?) reads out names in an overly dramatic manner such as 'Affffff-la-llooooooo!!!!' when said player a) goes onto court b) scores c) gets a penalty d) leaves court, but the fans also yell out names when someone scores/demanding someone to get off the bench and play.  Throughout the game 'Por-ziiiiing-iiiiis' was chanted hundreds of times whenever the young player had the ball - I think he saved the game that night.

3) Fans are there to win over as long as you play well:

Kristaps Porzingis, man of the hour, who scored 29 points, was the crowd's favourite of the night.  I was heart-warmed by people cheering for the kid.  However only back in late June this year, he was booed by New York fans when drafted by the Knicks team.  How time changed so quickly in this day and age.  Porzingis only recorded his double digit score 2 weeks before this game and he managed to play like a superstar and have the whole stadium shouting his name.  Well done!

4) Having said that, fans don't stay behind you forever:

Madison Square Garden was where Linsanity started 3 years ago and the garden was crazy about Jeremy Lin.  Apparently this game was the first time Lin came back to play at MSG ever since, for a different team.  He was booed when he went onto the court.  The saying of 'enjoy it while you can' applies even more so for these professional athletes.  (I actually find the Knicks fans reasonably civilised - there were a lot of excited shouting and booing.  However no swearing and no throwing plastic cups around and no drunken behaviour) I was amazed by Lin's hair though - how much hair gel must he have used before each game?!  That is some serious dedication.  

If a girl gets touched like that the dude
would so get into trouble.

5) Teams sometimes pick players of similar names just to confuse the audience:

For majority of the first 40 minutes or so, I was feeling more uncertain by the second if Jeremy Lin was really an Asian guy like I thought (he was the only NBA player I have heard of before I did any research on the players).  I was pretty sure I kept seeing a black guy putting the ball into the hoop and the MC (can someone tell me who that dramatically-speaking guy is please?) will yell out 'score by Jeremy Lin!'  Even Nelson was a bit confused - until when Lin was not even on the court we somehow realised there was another player called Jeremy Lamb.  Why?  Why?  Why are you doing this to us?!!!!

6) Appreciate the couch coaches (def. someone who thinks they play sports better than people on TV and proceeds to coach them from the comfort of their couch):

There were two ladies who sat behind us who were behaving like your typical couch coaches, but with a motherly flavour.  'Carmelo now let the kids play.' 'Carmelo you have gone past your prime, just pass the ball.' 'Carmelo - that is unacceptable!' (you have to imagine the audio in your head with the African American twang - it is gold)  I was pissing myself laughing (inside) - although our friend Eric advised us the ladies knew what they were talking about.  Poor Carmelo - people can be such ageist eh?  :-)

7) Enjoy the entertainment:

I don't know my NBAs from NFLs but I feel the line between sports and entertainment has become quite blurry these days.  Going to a game is so much more than the game - it is very much about supporting a favourite player, showing love for your city, catching up with your friends between times booing the other team, and simply soaking in the atmosphere.  The game organiser did not disappoint either, during every time-out there were mini quiz games being played, cheerleaders coming out with rocket guns shooting free t-shirts to the audiences, etc.  Between the sets we also saw a pretty intense game played by kids who were trained in a charity basketball program.  We were never bored for a minute throughout the night.  

8) Be part of the crowd:

It is truly an experience when hundreds of thousands of people all cheer for the one team.  And yes it is more fun when you stand up and shout and clap your hands real hard!

After such a wonderful experience (thanks to both teams) we have since bought tickets to an Ice Hockey game in mid-December (New York Rangers vs Edmonton Oilers).  

At this rate, I am optimistic that one day I might understand and appreciate Cricket, the number 2* weird sport in the world.

* No.1 weird sport has gotta be Curling, hands down.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curling