Sunday, 8/10/08 Men's Basketball

Conveniently and safely located across from Beijing’s People’s Liberation Army Hospital on Fuxing Road, the gold-mesh wrapped Beijing Olympic Basketball Gymnasium is another of Beijing’s new Olympic stadiums and it’s next to the new temporary baseball stadium. Our family of four joined the throngs waiting to enter the stands, all of us excited to see some powerhouses play: Spain vs. Greece and Argentina vs. Lithuania. As the crowd flooded into the stadium at 1:30 there was a collective SIGH as cool a/c met hot bodies and throngs stood in line to buy drinks and food.

Our seats were in the upper nose-bleed section, mostly filled by Chinese, but even up high we could see well. These seats were a great $7 investment! (That’s what our seats each cost through the Chinese ticket lottery.) Mr. Zhang Jianxin near us brought his own designed fan featuring Olympic symbols and his calligraphy to celebrate the day. (See photo) One of the stairwell volunteers said she’d had her first day of volunteering Saturday; all volunteers are assigned one venue and occasionally have a chance to watch when they are off. Behind us was a group of mostly young women, collectively dressed in red miniskirts and gold polo shirts, all ready to cheer for the teams. Three young Lithuanian men decked out in complete national colors and crazy hats are roving for seats; they sit in front of us, to upper left, then lower right. My daughter and I have fun trying to find them periodically; it’s like “Where’s Waldo?” but with Lithuanians!

The screens and sound are state-of-the-art. One of the Chinese Olympic mascots (the five were once known as the five Friendlies and are named Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying, Nini, for the phrase “Beijing huanying ni” or “Beijing welcomes you!”) tumbles across the screen in a Pixar-like short to promote recycling and no flash photography. Boppy Greek music and cheers from our 3rd tier (infuriatingly, many seats closer to court are empty) greet the Greek team as they emerge and start their warm-ups. The Spanish team embraces each other in a circle and leap exuberantly before they quickly start layups – meanwhile the Greeks are STILL stretching. But during the game the teams constantly tussle for the lead and the first quarter ends more or less even: 18 Spain vs. 16 Greece. Between quarters the Beijing “dancers” come out for an embarrassing contortionist twist to – Beyonce? It looks like each dancer put on her bra and forgot most of her shirt; only about 2 inches and cap sleeves are there. Such strange outfits! People throng toilets and snack stands at breaks like these. Here Western fears that the toilets would be inadequate are unfounded. (However, bigger trash bins for used towels would be advised.) The snack booths, however, are hit-or-miss. First, the drinks are tepid. Second, some booths opened drinks in front of us and threw caps away. I asked if they weren’t worried about spills, but they said that was the policy. Third, things constantly sell out: no Snickers bars, no potato chips, no this, no that. At one point there were only “rice crisps” that taste like spiced, uncooked ramen noodles; cold, hard and sweet popcorn; and mystery hot dogs on a stick.

Both Greece and Spain have enthusiastic fans in the stands. Unbelievably, security let Greek fans bring in two large drums which the group of a dozen or so constantly use to drum up support and cheers for Greece. Frankly, no matter who starts a cheer, if it’s rhythmic or catchy the Chinese fans immediately join in. When one group of Spanish fans started the “ole, ole, ole ole” chant, it seems a collective breath was taken as recognition of a thousand World Cup and Fifa games was made amongst the Chinese. Of course they then joined in the chant!

The Spanish dominate the 3rd quarter with their shooting and suddenly what was a close game isn’t much any longer. Our Chinese cheerleaders behind us try to encourage them with “Greece, go! Go, go, go!” but it just sounds like “Grace, go!” to my ears. The Greek fans don’t give up easily and they loudly drum and, at one point, the stadium crowd all joins in clapping rhythmically as a Spaniard shoots a foul. He’s not bothered; the ball goes in Swoosh! Later, another Olympic volunteer arrives to talk to “our” cheerleaders and conscripts them to cheer “Olympics, go! Au yun, jia you!” instead of cheering for a particular team. Spain beats Greece, 81-66.

As the second game between Lithuania and Argentina begins, I wonder if two sets of basketball games are really going to work. It’s after five p.m. now and a few Chinese are leaving or else are asleep in the upper seats. The largely Chinese audience seems to gasp and sigh over Argentina, but the Lithuanian team seems like a well-oiled machine. They make few mistakes and keep their cool and by half-time lead 34 vs. 30. Almost every Lithuanian player has scored, in contrast to the Argentinian team, where most points seem to come from Carlos Delfino, Manu Ginobili and another player or two. The Argentinians are the cute, wild boys; their longish hair and half-shaven beards complete their bad-boy image. The Lithuanians are crisply clean-cut, led by their purely bald coach. While the occasional tattoo (including a Chinese character for “fortitude”!) peak out on Lithuanian arms, they really seem a tight unit indeed.

In the second half Argentina finally starts making a comeback, but they are still making a few mistakes and Lithuania relentlessly keeps making 3-point shots. Lithuania passes so well that Argentina doesn’t see the 3-point shot setup. And I finally figure out why Fabricio Oberto of Argentina is at last scoring well in the 2nd half – he’s FINALLY pulled back his long hair so he can see! He fiddled so much with it in the first half, I’m surprised his coach didn’t cut it himself!

Finally, in an agonizing final four minutes, Argentina catches up and there is breathtaking and breathstealing scenes as the teams struggle for the win. With a tie score of 75-75, the crowds screaming (mostly encouragement to Argentina) and 2 seconds left, in a remarkable set up Lithuania scores 3 points AND gets a foul! Final score, 79-75!! We are hoarse with glee as we root for the underdog Lithuania. What a wonderfully exciting first venture into Beijing Olympics!