Yujian's Exchange In USA: My first live basketball game in USA (Upenn VS Drexel)

Hi peepz!

I'm writing this entry with lots of energy and fervour. I just came back from a basketball match between Upenn Basketball and Drexel University Basketball Team. The experience was really so much better than any Basketball matches that i've watched back in Singapore. I totally enjoyed the atmosphere. Everyone was SUPER enthusiastic about the game and the crowd was constantly cheering for their teams (or booing the opposition). I have never seen a crowd as enthusiastic as them back in Singapore. It really brings back memories of my track and field days when we cheered for our trackers down on the field.

Anyway, the whole match was unlike the typical university game that we see back in Singapore. in fact, the whole show is even more grand than a typical S-league game! At the beginning of the match, the bballers would run in into the courts while the broadcaster read out the names of the starting players. The cheers and boos from the crowd were just overwhelming. Shortly after, the whole stadium would rise to sing the national anthem.

Although the way the basketball match was run is similar to singapore (i.e. 2 halfs, and similar rules), the crowd really made the difference. At every timeout, cheerleaders would run out onto the court to cheer on their teams. There is also a band from each school who will be playing music or drumming beats for cheers. During halftime, there were also dancers from each school who would be putting on a halftime show. Sometimes, there would be random participants who will go onto the court for quickshot competitions to win prizes during breaks.

The part that i enjoyed most was the active and participative crowd. During every free throw, the audience from the team who was making the shot would raise their hands with their wrists flapping downwards to support their team. The opposition team would also try their best to distract the opponent by waving their hands or booing the shooter. throughout the game, you could hear people calling the players name. My favorite one was when a drexel guy shot an airball. The penn people immediately chorused in unison, "airball airball, airball airball, LOSER!"

This got me thinking about how the players would react. They really had to hold their calm and make their shots. I guess the players probably also got used to this and wouldn't take it to heart after the game.

Anyway, i'll just end this entry with the summary of the game. Although Penn didn't lead the game at all, they put up a very strong fight. My favorite moment of the game was when Penn was still lagging by 3 points during the last 30seconds of the game. Defense by Drexel was tight and it was almost impossible to win the game. When the game was left with around 15 seconds, Penn was awarded 2 freethrows that might reduce the score difference to 1. What happened was almost legendary. The player show the freethrow and got the first 1 in... One more to go... He made the second shot... and he missed! but what happened next was like in the movies. Penn got the rebound and continued to make shots. They made shots continously from under the basket but they keep on missing due to the tight defense. The clock slowly ticked away and Penn was 1 second away from losing when a Penn player finally scrambled the ball in for the draw! Everyone from Penn was jumping in joy! I saw people hugging each other and everyone was almost moved to tears (that included me). This was truly one of the most exciting matches i've seen.

Well, unfortunately, although we were able to pull a draw in regular time. Extra time wasn't so smooth. The drexel shooters were darn accurate and got quite a few 3-pointers. In fact, i suspect that the number of 3points were more than the number of 2points. In the end, Penn lost by 5 and that was the end of the game.

This experience was definitely worth the $6 that i paid for the ticket. I'll definitely go for more matches from now on... I would say that this is the best form of entertainment i had for months!

My ticket (US$6 and its the student price)

One of the decorations in the stadium (it was about how Penn got disqualified from NCAA because some of their players on financial aid did not get at least a 1.6GPA)

Singing the national anthem