18 Days in August, an Olympic Blog

Most of the reasons Lithuania won the game against Greece so decisively have already been covered by Harry, but bear repeating nevertheless. The incredibly hard and focused way they entered the game, the magnificent scoring and ball handling skills, the flair for crowd-pleasing basketball, the tightness as a team in general; the list goes on, this team was really superb and it was a privilege to watch them. Greece on the other hand was an incredible disappointment, with terribly poor ball handling, passing, shooting and lack of focus and concentration conspiring to bring the team to its knees before even the first half was over. Quite an embarrassing night; we already knew this team was no match for the great teams of the past, but we expected more focus and discipline, if nothing else (you cannot just conjure good shooting skills out of thin air for the Olympics if they are not already there unfortunately).

However, the game was interesting for more than just the purely athletic aspects. The fans of both sides created an electrified atmosphere, with thousands of Greeks screaming at the top of their lungs and supporting the team even in the final few minutes (with a big drop in the decibel volume somewhere in the middle of the game when everyone sat around dejected watching the basketball clinic given for free by the Lithuanian team) and hundreds of incredibly well organised Lithuanian fans making themselves heard emphatically even amidst all the jeers and boos. Lietuva-Lietuva was the rallying cry of the masses, and one could not help but admire their pluck amongst an increasingly frustrated Greek crowd (try getting *your* team spanked by 38 points at midpoint to see how it feels). Luckily, only a few hooligans at the end misbehaved; most of the crowd kept smiling and appreciating the Lithuanian fans. Perhaps some even took note about how to organise the next time Greece plays abroad. Afterwards, the happy winners kept their raucous shenanigans alive by congregating under a huge Lithuanian flag and going their own merry way. It is good to be a winner, after all.

Afterwards, Athens was its usual bustling self at 2AM, with throngs of people parading in the narrow streets of Psyrrh and Plaka, eating, drinking, being merry and occasionally shouting Lietuva-Lietuva if they happened to be of that persuasion. Not even the first ugly Americans of the trip at a nearby table in a restaurant at 3am (the joys of Greek summertime) could spoil the sense of communal fun; there's usually a token idiot who gives their country a bad name at every event, but if there exists one for Lithuania too, he was certainly not among the basketball crowd yesterday.