Basketball fans and atmosphere: USA vs. Europe
Hi there my Hivean friends and followers!
I am happy to write another post for the Sports Talk Social community today and the topic is quite obvious - the comparison of the basketball fans and the atmosphere at games in the USA and in Europe.
Photo taken by me at the L. A. Lakers vs. Miami Heat game in L. A.
It was actually this video of the same title that I just happened to watch what inspired me to come up with this post so please check it out:
Quite a difference, right? More like two completely different worlds actually, I know. But it´s fair to say that not everywhere in Europe the atmosphere at basketball games is this crazy. The European part of the video was compiled mostly (if not entirely) from 3 countries: Greece, Serbia and Turkey. These countries (and maybe a few more countries in the Balkan and Eastern Europe) are actually known for extremely noisy, loyal and fanatic fans not only at basketball but also other sport games, especially football. In other parts of Europe, the atmosphere at the basketball games is not as frenetic but still more passionate and heated than in the US.
Here are two examples from my Czech hometown of Opava (not taken by me though):
As for the basketball fans and atmosphere at the games in America, I have only been to one NBA game so far but it was a pretty attractive match between L. A. Lakers and Miami Heat played at the iconic Staples Center in L. A. (now known as the Crypto.com Arena :D) a few years ago so I think I got some idea of what the atmosphere looks like and feels like in there. It was actually very similar to what the American part of the video above shows. Here is a little sample from that game, taken by me. Sorry about the poor quality.
I browsed the comments below the original video comparing the atmosphere in the US and Europe too to see what people think about it and which kind of atmosphere they like better and I ended up laughing over some funny ones. Let me share some of them here too.
"If the NBA had these kind of fans, they would be dunking from half court."
"America: 10% passion and 90% food, drink, music, cheerleaders. Europe: 100% passion."
"Europeans just have no respect for the structural integrity of the building."
"America: good old entertainment. Europe: tribal chanting from the stone ages."
"USA: where is the music? Europe: we are the music."
"USA: cheerleading women wearing skirts. Europe: warriors summoning Hades."
"Imagine 16 year old Luka Doncic playing in one of these arenas. NBA pressure must feel like a walk in the park now."
"America uses a sound system to play music and pump up the crowd. In Europe, the crowd is the sound system."
"US: taking your kid to the big game is excellent bonding time. Europe: taking your kid to the big game is a coming-of-age ritual for only the strongest warriors."
I found those comments funny but I definitely didn´t mean to make fun of the way our American fellows support their clubs and enjoy their games. They do it in their own way and I totally respect it. For them, watching a game is a past time so it´s more about chill, fun, show, friends and food while in Europe (especially in the regions mentioned above), being a fan of a sport club is more about passion, tradition, loyalty, maybe a bit fanaticism too :D
Being a European myself and a huge fan of my hometown clubs, I can definitely relate more to the "European way" of being a fan but I would love to know your thoughts and opinions on this topic. You guys, my dear Hivean friends and followers, are from all over the world and it would be amazing if you could share your thoughts and experiences with us in the comment section below ;)
This post was created by me for the Hive blockchain exclusively. All rights reserved.
Europe is better.
Thanks for your contribution :) Are you fan a of any particular sport club in Europe?
Right, Turkey have extreme fans both in football and basketball. Çarşı has the noise record, 132 decimal.
I thought you would stop by ;) Thanks for doing so. Yeah, as I already told you, I really hope to visit an Istanbul derby one day... Football or basketball, doesn´t matter :)
Attend a derby which includes Beşiktaş 😎
@tipu curate
Upvoted 👌 (Mana: 48/88) Liquid rewards.
Chtěl jsem říct, že v pondělí budu trávit na BK v Opavě dost času, ale koukám, že budu ve sportovní hale SFC Opava, tak nic :D
Od pěti Vám prej v místním Basketbalovým klubu hraje repre s Litvou, ale to bohužel nedám. :)
Tak to je škoda, že tě nebudu moct u nás "pohostit" :) Já teda nebudu ani na tom basketu, jsme pořád v Krakowě a vypadá to, že domů se teď vzhledem k situaci v ČR asi je tak nepodívám... Jak dlouho se v Opavě zdržíš? Máte to i s noclehem nebo jen na otočku?
Jedna noc z neděle na pondělí jen právě. Z Opavy uvidim tak leda pendrek. Konec máme v neděli někdy v 18:30, takže za tmy a druhej den od rána nanovo :) a pak tři hoďky cesty domů. Proto jsem se ani nenahlašoval na repre (tu možnost jsme dostali), poněvadž v úterý musim zase fungovat :)
Jasně, chápu. Škoda no. Ale třeba se ještě něco v budoucnu naskytne a vítr tě k nám zavane znovu, zvlášť pokud teď "fušuješ" do basketu :D Třeba na ligové finále s Nymburkem bys mohl dojet :) (předbíhám, já vím :D)
Tak já tě beru za slovo a až bude hrát Opava finále s Pardubicema (:D), tak přijedu :D
:DD
Super posteček! Už chýba len atmo&vibs toho nejlepšího!!!!
¡Con 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗮 y mucho 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘇ó𝗻!👏👏💪
To je teda kotel :D
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Right :) I actually wanted to buy some CRO too (the coin has been on fire for quite some time already) but to my surprise, it´s not listed on Binance where I have my main account :O
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I already have an account on Huobi (I have accounts on most exchanges :D) but I use Binance as my main account and all the converting and sending to other exchanges would be expensive... I hope they will list CRO soon.
I see :)
Hey @phortun you went there? or just watched through youtube? Now I understand why basketball players get really high salary. 😁
Hey :) What game do you mean? In America, I visited just the one NBA game that I mentioned. In Europe, I have been to many games but not in the most fanatic countries (yet).
I mean the recent games, this tournament? I used to watch NBA 2 or 3 years ago when I played it, but then I moved to badminton because I got fatter and slower and started to watch Lee Chong Wei. 😀
Hahaha that´s a creative approach towards sports :) I never really played badminton but I heard it can be very tough and you can easily destroy yourself on the court :) I mean destroy like totally exhaust, not injure :D
Yeah playing badminton is exhausted too but it's as tired as basketball. The badminton is much smaller than basketball court. 😁
Cool post bro. Compare my Australian basketball crowd..probably more intensity at a under 5's game overseas. Not sure whether the NBA is more geared toward fanilt atmosphere perhaps?
Thanks for your feedback man. I haven´t really seen any games from Australia yet, I need to watch some videos. Yeah, it feels like in America, sport event are more like family matters where you can take your kids or friends and have some fun together. Some of the European crowds get "a bit more" passionate about their clubs :D ;)
The difference is clear Europe is preferable
Thanks for checking out the post and leaving a comment :)
That is a topic, I can relate to :)
Not to be always travel and photography...
You did a great comparison and exposed comments made me laugh. Plus you know, you warmed my heart with the Dončič one :)
I have been to NBA game as well and I was on two different occassions. Both in Miami, just the first time it was watcging Goran Dragič on some random game and the second time was watching Goran vs. Luka at the game in Miami back in 2019. That was a massive invasion of Slovenians going to that game. There were 2000 - 3000 fans from Slovenia in the American Airlines Arena. The difference was obvious if I compare both experiences. And USA folks were watching what is happening with their mouth open - literally! That was a phenomenon for them. Such an awesome experience, when away game is actually your home game.
This is my photo from the pre game when we were able to get in the arena half an hour before doors open normally.
And if you want to see some videos to get impression of how it was (not my recording):
I am definitely closer to European style and as my country is part of Balkan, or better say Ex-Yugoslavia, fans here are quite electric as well :)
In current times, we don't have really successful clubs in any sport, but I remember when Union Olimpija was part of European top clubs. And that times were awesome and it was hard to play at Tivoli for any team. We had great atmosphere when Olimpija had last successful season at Euroleague and when new arena was opened. You couldn't get tickets and it was soooo loud.
I can share a bit of my history as well, as I was an ultras for my local club Olimpija in supporter group Green Dragons for a couple of years.
I know regional ultras scene quite well and as Greece & Turkey are too far away, I went on a game at Pionir, Belgrade, Serbia. When Real Madrid was playing against Crvena Zvezda, back in 2018. Guess who played for Real back than :)
Some kid who just turned 19... And what did he do? Nothing special - step back three for the win with less than a second on a clock...
Yes I was on that game and had to behave very carefully with my emotions after that bucket. You don't want to mess around in Pionir...
That is a video of this bucket. Crazy...
Damm, that is now longer than most of my posts and an hour went by like few seconds :) Thanks God I am at work and don't have much else to do :)
Thank you very much Petr to open this topic. I really found myslef here and hope you don't mind faking all that space under your comment section...
Before I get to thank you for this incredible contribution to the debate, let me assure you that I expected a lot of engagement under this post so I am not even going to publish a new post today so that I can reply to and reward all the comments here :)
So yeah, thank you so much for sharing all these amazing stories, memories, experiences and videos with us Andy. That Dragic vs. Doncic NBA game back in 2019 must have been a truly special and kind of once in a lifetime experience. Out of those 3,000 Slovenians who were watching it right there in the arena, you have an idea how many were living in the US and how many actually traveled there from Europe only to watch this game?
Luka is such a phenomenon. Incredible that he is already considered one of the greatest players ever at such a young age. No wonder you guys are so proud of him ;)
Oh and that match in Serbia must have been amazing too, glad you survived it without any harm :D
USA basketball is more like a TV Show than an actual sport. I'm not really a fan of basketball myself but sometimes players in the states are too overpraised and would turn into a celebrity which doesn't make sense anymore. More entertainment and money that the actual sport value.
That´s an interesting opinion. From what I have seen so far, sport (especially basketball) in the US is really much more about show than it´s in Europe but the NBA is still considered the best basketball league in the world where only the best players can play so in terms of the actual athletic skills, I think the NBA should still be better than any European league. But it would be great to see how the American teams would deal with the frenetic atmosphere in some of the European arenas, playing against the home teams :)
Must be with the fact that US is very influential when it comes to this sport. But I agree, it would be interesting for them to play against each other in different homecourts and how would the audience react
Right ;)
It was a good post brother, I really feel a little happy to see how a simple image or a video makes us talk about them and what a good way to express our words in this nice platform and community of HIVE. Regarding your post man, I must say that it is very obvious that in the USA this kind of thing happens with basketball, because that's where it comes from, while in EUROPE it's more about other things, like soccer.
It's just what I think about it. Greetings...
Thanks for your feedback man :) Yeah, I am really glad to see all the cool engagement here. Obviously, sport is a topic that people all over the world share and like to talk about ;) Thanks for checking out the post and the videos and leaving this nice comment...
For sure n turkey they love basketball 🏀 and of course great numbers are always out in the match that is why you have a lot of noise, just as in the case of football. Grea post boss @phortun
Thanks buddy! :) Yeah, the Turks are really famous for being extremely noisy and loyal supporters.
Great work boss
Here in Lithuania basketball is also very loved.
Not my videos.
Wow, awesome! I know the club of course as Zalgiris Kaunas is a big name in European basketball but I haven´t seen any videos from their home games so thank you, very nice arena and cool atmo ;)
thank you.
Congrats on your win over our national team yesterday, you deserved it :) The game was actually played in the arena of my hometown club BK Opava, it was great to watch it.
Thank you.
Those comments are really funny indee😂😂😅
Oh damn, that's how passionate Europeans are about Basketball? I never hear any basketball news from Europe, everytime I hear about Basketball it is about the NBA in America, it is football in Europe that I know a lot about, Europeans are nuts about football! Beyond nuts. And I watch a lot of European football myself, sports is really spiritual.
So now you know we are nuts about basketball too :D But not all Europe, just certain regions as I mentioned in the post ;) Thanks for your visit man! Always appreciated.
Never been to NBA, but I remember the atmosphere back in the Olimpics 2016, in Rio. I watched USA vs France (female) and loved it. It's way different than soccer in terms of atmosphere. All the time the big screens interacted with the fans; it was a lot of fun. They had that kiss cam and etc \o\ and beer and hot dogs.
Then I watched handball, athletics (no Usain Bold that day) and BMX, but basketball was by far the coolest.
Awesome, that must have been really cool to watch :) Thanks for your contribution mate. Are there any super heated football derbies in Brazil like for example Boca vs. River Plate in Argentina? I would love to visit a game like this somewhere in South America too...
Yeah, there are the classics. In my state, the biggest is Gremio vs Internacional (not as violent as Boca vs. River though things escalate sometimes). The thing about Boca is that their stadium, La Bombonera, is like a box, so the fans sit very next to the grass, bringing that energy to the field. It's very hard to win against Boca because of that.
Right. It´s on the stadiums like this one where the home advantage is on another level ;) I would love to see the Boca vs. River game one day...
Me too, and most importantly, survive to tell the tale \o\o\o\
Svým článkem jsi vyvolal celkem slušnou "smršť" komentářů :-).
V tomhle jsem úplně mimo.
Mimo ale nejsem v ATW :-)
!LUV za použití #aroundtheworld
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Jak jsem psal, vyšší cena = vyšší aktivita ;) Díky za zařazení do soutěže a Luváka.
Taky bych to tak mohl napsat. Ale ta aktivita v ATW zatím vychází naprázdno :-).
Buď rád, aspoň si chvilku ty i tvoje walletka oddechnete ;)
:-)
Haha, that's great. I honestly had no idea that one of my favorite sports was so big in Europe. I'll have to start paying better attention.
Any idea what the salaries are like for the European leagues?
Glad to have an American commenting here! Thank you for your feedback man :) I don´t know how much the best paid players here in Europe earn but I am pretty sure it would be nowhere near to the top NBA salaries... It really feels like it´s more about passion than money here. Even some poor clubs are supported by large crowds of loyal fans. Moreover, basketball is not as popular as football (soccer) here. In European football there is both, big passion and big money :D