German Basketball Experience

On Saturday I had my first German basketball experience. Karen asked Clint and I if we would like to go to a Chemnitz 99ers game. I thought, well I haven't been to a Chemnitz game let alone a German basketball game since I have lived here so I should go to experience that.

Before we even left, I already had my mind thinking about how there should be good food in the snack stand. For some reason I really wanted to get some nachos... don't know why. So I kind of was hoping for something similar to in the States. Of course, I should have learned by now not to always expect that since this isn't the States.

We got there and the only thing that we could tell that they served was "Wiener und Bier"- basically some kind of sausage and beer. Of course they did have some other non-alcoholic drinks, but when we went out during half time pretty much everyone was drinking beer.

Something that I did like about the experience was the fact that there was no smoking in the entire building which is a big change from most public places in Germany. It really gets old when you want to go somewhere in public and no matter how far away from the smoke you try to stay, you go home having to wash all your clothes because they stink like smoke. Although, I heard that in 2008 there will be a new law passed where it limits smoking in public places. I really hope that goes through.

Some other things I found different from an American basketball game:

- The cheerleaders don't really do anything. They stand on the sideline and clap but don't really do cheers and try to get the crowd excited. They do some dance routines during time outs and other breaks but the types of routines they do seem very 7th gradish compared to what it is in the States.

- The mascot did absolutely nothing. He walked around the court, but did not once jump, dance, try to get the crowd excited. One time I saw him sitting down.

- If I remember correctly, they played for 10 minutes, had a 2 minute break and then played for 10 more minutes with a half time of 15 mintues. I actually don't know what the technical rules are in America but it seemed different to me. Maybe someone who knows something about basketball can tell me.

Even though it was different the game was pretty good. Well, the first half it was pretty much back and forth as far as who was ahead and then the second half the other team beat Chemnitz pretty bad and they ended up losing by 20 points. Overall though, it was fun and interesting to see how it is different here.