Gebaut für Dunkings!!!

100% SUPPORT ALBA BERLIN WAS WOLLT IHR?

Tonight Michael and I saw the Berlin basketball team - Alba - play at the O2 Arena. Michael had gone a few times before, and was impressed with the fans, which he thought had the enthusiasm and energy of college fans rather than most pro basketball team fans.

It's a really fascinating phenomenon, basketball in Germany: first, almost all of the players are American, and they are mostly all college players who couldn't make it in the NBA. On the Berlin team, all of the starting players were American, and the best German player (the one who plays for the German national team) doesn't even start on his own (local) team! Pretty crazy.  Dashaun Wood, the best player on the team, got 27 points tonight, and was the MVP of the league last year. Here is a funny video of him being interviewed for a German audience, about his life in Berlin. (Just think about it! All these American basketball players living in Germany! Crazy...what do they do?!)


In general, it was a pretty cool atmosphere. Not like Michigan games, but still pretty cool. (Michael said it was even better atmosphere at the other games he saw, when it wasn't a blowout win...) And what was impressive: the fans sit there the whole time. There were never lines for food/beer. People sit and stay in their seats. Also at the end: no one gets up early to go and get to their parking spot. People stayed until the very end, and cheer the players at the end while they have their names announced. They don't just head to the locker rooms.  We got to see the Alba win 94:70 against the team ranked above them right now.

Awesome example of Gerglisch: "Built for dunkings. Built for Bodychecks." (they also have hockey there)

We also thought the food/drink options would be amusing. No nachos here. Fries, Bratwurst, Currywurst, Boulette (like a thick hamburger patty), soft pretzels (again, NO cheese!), cookies, muffins, and Haribo (gummi bears) and Hit cookies. Very German. Also notice that beer is 60 cents more expensive than soft drinks (3.80 for 16 oz). Also German: you pay a deposit on your cup (1 EUR). So you definitely clean up after yourself, returning the cup, or you lose the money. For drinks, you can also buy red/white wine, prosecco, and the German mixed beers (coke/beer etc).