Saturday, April 14, 2012

My First NBA Game!!

Last Friday, April 13th 2012, I watched my first NBA Game, it was between the Detroit Pistons and the Milwaukee Bucks. Being an exchange student from The Netherlands, I had never heard of the NBA and I knew nothing about basketball either. However, I live in a house with all American students, and I could not escape their conversations about the NBA. They all sounded very excited and they told us that we had to watch one NBA game before we go home. Watching a game was high on our American to do list and therefore me and my friend decided to go watch a NBA game ourselves. Some housemates offered to come with us so that they could explain the rules. I was intrigued by the massiveness of the event- there where thousands of people yelling and cheering for their team.  There were cheerleaders (Ok I know that doesn’t sound noticeable for you guys, but I am not used to cheerleaders at games), there where fire flames and in the breaks we got an amazing performance from the Harlem Globetrotters.                                                                                                            I am not going to try to give a complete game analysis (since I am far from an expert in this field;)). I really enjoyed watching the game and I learned a lot about basketball. For example, that there is a European and an American, NBA, style of play.  I also found out that basketball is for Americans what soccer is for Europeans. This made me think about the cultural meanings of sports. In lecture, we talked about the cultural meaning of the Olympic Games. Sport and games bring people together and the only way to describe that feeling of “togetherness” is by actually being part of it. I really enjoyed watching a NBA game and it definitely completed my American experience, I am glad my housemates convinced me to go.  I learned a lot about American culture by going to an NBA game. Since this was such an interesting experience for me, I wonder if there are American students with the same experiences. Have you ever been to a sports game/ event in a foreign country, and how have you experienced that?


The internationals right before the game



3 comments:

  1. Glad to hear you enjoyed your first nba game. My first game was also with against the Milwaukee bucks. I remember how I used to always watch the pistons and attend their games throughout middle school. NBA was always the cleanest game to watch until I remember the pistons brawl and one of the few times there was ever violence on the court. As the pistons started lagging behind and not making as far in the playoffs as they used to i started phasing out of basketball. As a fan it was a great experience and I will never forget it.
    A few summers ago I traveled to the middle east and it is very different how they treat soccer. They call soccer football and all the people go wild, especially when the world cup season. The whole country participates in supporting different teams and people are always up all night watching the soccer games. Here in Michigan people don't really go that crazy about soccer the way they do in other places. And here in Michigan, people go crazy about football not like they do in other countries.

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  2. Nice picture joelle ;)
    I also attend the NBA game that joelle is talking about (second girl from the left), and I'm glad I went so I can tell people at home that I saw an NBA game, but to be honest I expected more from it. As you can see at the picture, the stadium wasn't even half full, and I thought the both the Detroit pistons were disapointing.... (the Milwaukee bucks won). After A while I was looking more forward to the breaks than the game itself. Overall it was a great evening and I laught my ass of when kids (and their parents too!) tried to draw attention to people who were giving away free t-shirts, pizza, etc. but I got the feeling that all that entourage was used, to keep the few people their excited and to hide the disappointment of the game.

    Elise.

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  3. Congratulations on your first NBA game! Hopefully, it will not be your last!

    I think it is interesting to note how different fans watching the same sport are, when you look at sporting events from the perspective of different arenas. For example, I am from Orange County, CA, so the two hometown teams are the Lakers and the Clippers. Having been to both kinds of games, the atmosphere and environment is completely different, even though the two teams play in the same exact building! (The Staples Center) I think that this is a direct result of the different levels of association that fans have with their sports teams. Not to say that there are no diehard Clippers fans, I felt that in comparison, Lakers' fans (such as myself) are much more passionate and involved with their hometown franchise, are oftentimes are not simply spectators, but try as hard as possible to be involved in the game.

    -Alexander Chen

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