Written by: Tim Flagstad
LONDON — It’s been a whirlwind 72 hours.
In that time, I’ve flown from Bismarck to Denver to Chicago to London, attended two Olympic events, scored tickets unexpectedly to another event for Monday and attended one of the top shows in London’s famous West End.
As this is my first post from overseas — a bit delayed, I know — it’ll be a little lengthy, but I’ll try to break it up into small notes.
While typing this, I’m sitting in a pub across from our hotel eating a late dinner and just watched Usain Bolt win another 100-meter gold medal.
Queue to the left please
The first stop after leaving London Heathrow Airport was to pick up the Olympic event tickets I ordered online more than a year ago.
It didn’t take long to experience something to which we’d soon become very accustomed — waiting in line.
One thing the British know how to do is form a good queue. It seems as if they take a certain pleasure in the discipline and patience it takes to stand in a line.
The ticket will-call line didn’t look too long, but, much like those at a theme park, it snaked around several times. I volunteered to stand in line while my dad and our friend went to sit in a park.
The 40-minute wait served as a perfect warmup for what was to come.
Queues are everywhere around Olympic venues — security to get into Olympic Park, gates to enter the actual venues, the official merchandise store and, I swear I’m not making this up, the McDonald’s in Olympic Park around breakfast.
All of the lines are relatively quick and efficient, but it’s apparent rather quickly that visitors better be ready and willing to wait.
It’s a small world
More than 7 million people live in London, and Olympic organizers anticipated at least a million more visitors during the Games.
Yet, when we took our seats in the basketball arena, two Americans sat down in the spots to our left.
The patriarch of the group happened to have spent four years stationed at the Minot Air Force Base years ago. Minot is my hometown and where my dad and our friend still live.
Every time I travel, it’s amazing to see how connected the world is and how it doesn’t take long to find something in common with folks.
Basketball 101
International basketball — now that the FIBA abandoned the trapezoid lane in favor of the rectangular lane of the American game — doesn’t differ much from the game we all watch back in the States.
The atmosphere, however, varies greatly.
After taking our seats in the basketball arena, which looks like a giant pillow, we heard the public address announcer give a quick briefing on the rules and terms of the game. The learning moment featured definitions of even the most rudimentary of the sport’s terms—including what a slam dunk and alley oop are and what the 3-point line means.
That moment offered a refresher on how different our sporting tastes are from the rest of the world. Track and field — or athletics in international circles — rowing and cycling appear to be the favorites of the British. All are sports that barely register in the American scene.
While the rules of basketball briefing seemed silly to us, we definitely would’ve needed a similar crash course had we been in the arena for a cycling team pursuit event or some obscure-to-us event such as team handball. Heck, when we went to the race-walk later in the day, we appreciated the lesson.
During the game, the public address guy gave a detailed play-by-play. Rather than simply saying who scored, he would do a pared-down version of a typical American radio broadcast. He’d give the score, the time remaining and other details rarely heard inside domestic venues.
During stoppages in play, an emcee on the court would constantly ask who was cheering for which team and do things to engage the crowd such as initiating dance-offs and singalongs to popular tunes.
The crowd seemed more accustomed to watching soccer — or football in international vernacular — as most would sigh in disappointment each time someone missed a shot almost as if they didn’t realize missed shots are common in basketball.
A different level
The two basketball games we saw featured a matchup between France and Tunisia, which tipped off at 9 a.m., and Spain against Russia.
It was almost like watching a JV game followed by the varsity. Tunisia didn’t seem to run any discernable offense, and the players on the team — the only in the Olympic tournament without an NBA player — made basic plays look difficult. The coach roamed the sidelines in blue jeans, an untucked collared shirt and tennis shoes. He looked like someone the team picked up at the local Y.
France, which is led by NBA all-star and former NBA Finals MVP Tony Parker and has several other NBA players, played down to the competition and looked like they’d rather be in bed than on the court. The team’s play was uninspired at best.
Tunisia, despite its obvious talent gap, stayed right with the French and lost by only four.
The funniest part of the game came in the last sequence when Tunisia took the ball down by seven with 20 or so seconds left in the game. Rather than shoot quickly and then foul to extend the game, the Tunisians inexplicably held the ball for the last shot, drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer to only lose by four and then left the court smiling and celebrating.
I guess being in the Olympics is more than I’ll ever experience, and it’s great to see the players enjoy the spirit of the competition.
Spain and Russia, though, played crisp ball at a much faster speed. The difference was noticeable at the opening tip.
Solid picks, backdoor cuts, tight passes, rotation defense — the teams could do it all — and it’s easy to see how Spain can challenge the U.S. for the gold medal, which most expect.
In this game, though, the Spanish coach stubbornly stuck to his rotation and kept star Pau Gasol on the bench for long stretches in the second and fourth quarters. When he was in the game, Spain dominated and took comfortable leads; when he was on the bench, Russia made its runs.
In the end, Russia got hot from deep and went on to win by three.
More to come
I have far more to share, including my impressions on the race-walk, and, tomorrow, we’re off to Wembley Stadium for the women’s soccer semifinal featuring France and Japan.
Hopefully, in the coming days as we have multiple train trips, I’ll have more time to write and share photos and observations.
Feel free to comment and ask questions.
-Tim Flagstad is a freelance sports writer for the Great Plains Examiner. He will be blogging from London during the Summer Games.
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Brits take their queues VERY seriously. I flew into Heathrow and whilst in the queue for customs, there was a queue jumper. I called over an armed officer and three gentlemen with automatic weapons escorted him out of the queue into the “little room.” An hour later (whilst I was still in the queue) he was escorted to the back of the queue looking none to happy and his clothes rather disheveled.