Basketball LIVE! Spain Vs Lietuva!

Well, about two weeks ago I was a spectator at my first live Lithuanian basketball game and I let me tell you it was some experience! I wasn't a big fan of basketball before coming to Lithuania, just the occasional high school games and then watching my brother cream the South St. Paul team, which was one of my proudest moments while watching him play. Good job Bruce! 

So back to the basketball game, it was a big deal of a game. It would decide which team would go on to the next round in the tournament. We "Lietuvos Rytas" were playing against Spain. It was intense, everybody was so over the top and true fans, the Lithuanian fans easily out numbered the Spain fans by numbers and also by how loudly we cheered! Here is a picture about 30 minutes prior to the basketball game, this is the stadium located in Vilnius. Also, the Vilnius team has this cool mascot looking guy, I think it is a wolf but he would do the stretches and just mascot things during time outs. 


Sadly for Lithuania, this time we lost to Spain :-(

The Lithuanian fans though, they are unlike anything else. Below is a video of the song, Trys Milijonai, it is like the Lithuanian basketball national anthem. It is played during the games but mostly only when the Lithuanian team wins. Fans, go all out, they have a gigantic flag they actually do wave during a time-out, they pain their faces, pass out from being to drunk, play a big drum, this video is an accurate representation of just what it is like at a basketball game. 

Lastly, I kinda wish I would have been here in the fall of 2011. Because Lietuva is holding the Euro Basketball Tournament this year. Which means, teams from all over Europe and possible one team from the USA again are going to be playing in five different cities across Lietuva. So the exchange students coming to Lietuva next year are in for a real treat, and better be ready to cheer on Lietuva to victory!