B-ball: Ukrainian style

Last night we attended our first sporting event in Kyiv. BC Kyiv (BC stands for Basketball Club - everything’s a “club” here) took on Benetton at the soviet-style Palats Sportu arena. Unfortunately for us, it was not one of the Wolves better showings, as they lost 73 to 89. However, there was much amusement to be had by the crazy Americans in the 12th row.

As with everything in Kyiv, I would sum up the experience as being so close to what we consider “normal,” yet not quite right. The game itself was pretty normal. I mean, they are a part of Euro League and 3 out of 5 of the starters were American, so it couldn’t be too terribly strange. I did like the 10-minute quarters, though. It kept the game short enough that we were able to get home and get the puppy to bed on time.

However, the surroundings of the game were a little strange. First of all, there was a large television screen at one end of the court that ran a continuous loop of commercials without sound during the game. (The really sad thing is that I didn’t find this all that strange - it’s a situation that exists in many businesses, restaurants, and even on the Metro here. But for those unacclimated to Ukrainian culture, it would probably seem weird.) The second oddity was the fact that most of the fans sat stoically in their seats, still wearing their winter coats (for those of them that hadn’t left them at the coat check right inside the entrance), for the entire game. Our section had some cheering fans, but most of the “VIP Section” looked like it could have fallen asleep at any time.

But by far, the highlight of the game (at least for the men in our group) was the cheerleaders. They treated the crowd to a dance during every timeout and between quarters. The majority of the dances involved several, let’s say, suggestive motions to the crowd. And these ladies were quite bend-y. Disturbingly so, considering that most of them looked anorexic. But they did burn a lot of calories running back to the dressing room to change for every dance. That’s right, they went through 8 different costumes during the game. My personal favorite (as far as over-the-topness) was one of the last. They came blazing across the court in what initially appeared to be thongs with strings hanging off them “covering” their lower half. Shawn was quick to point out that they were not thongs, but flesh-colored bikinis. Oh, well, excuse me!