Basketball

It has been a long time once again since I updated. I've had some pictures sitting around for awhile waiting to be posted, but never got around to it. So here they are.

These are from the World Basketball Challenge. I don't understand it completely, but it is an international basketball contest with teams representing each country. My friend Alex and I were able to get tickets to the final game of U.S.A. v. Korea. The US team was really good with some big stars from the NBA (don't ask me who).


Here is a view from our seats as the teams warmed up. The stadium is really near my house and Korea's professional basketball league plays here. I have been to a game yet, however.


Anyone who is a bigger NBA fan than me may be able to tell who some of these players are. I can only remember Dwayne Wade was there.


Oh! And cheerleaders! It was funny seeing the difference between the Korean cheerleaders and the Americans. The Americans performed quite a showy routine with pyramids and backflips, etc. Meanwhile, this line of Korean girl just shook their pompons and walked off the court.


And the game begins. As for the play of the game, let's just say it was not the most compelling thing to watch. But, more on that in a bit.


One of the advantages of being a foreigner in Korea is that people rarely question what you do, mostly from their lack of English. Knowing this, Alex and I decided to try and sneak a better seat. We went down a level and saw a few people walking through a doorway with yellow tape in a big X clearly reading "Do Not Enter". We decided to follow. Once inside the door we walked down some stairs only to see the people we followed being chased by a large security guard. Hiding in the stairwell, we waited until he had escorted them back to the security office when, with his back turned, we proceeded forward. We stepped out of the tunnel, surrounded by guys typing feverishly on laptops. Yes, the press booth. We hung around there for awhile and no one said a word to us.


We left the press box because we wanted a better angle to get shots of the US bench. We got to a great location right behind the basket. Unfortunately, most of my pictures came out very blurry.


And the game is over. 116-63. I told you it was not compelling. You can see a list of players names there, if they mean anything to you.


When the game was over we headed out onto the court hoping to get a photo of Alex grabbing the rim of the basket. Unfortunately, the security guards were trying to rush us out so all of those pictures came out blurry as well.

That's all for now. I'll be back soon with photos of Sokcho.