Watching Team USA Win by 49 Points Is Fun but Also Kind of Boring

FanHouse blogger Enrico Campitelli Jr. is on the scene in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.

Before coming to Beijing for the games, all of the buzz in my group of travelers was about trying to score the hot events. Right near the top of the list was a ticket to see Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and the rest of the 2008 USA basketball team play. The opponent didn't really matter.

I was lucky enough to score a seat in the second row of the upper bowl of Beijing Olympic Basketball Gymnasium to watch as Team USA made Dirk Niwitzki and the German team look like a third world country. The US squad won by forty-nine.

Sure the high flying dunks and attempted alley-oops off the backboard were entertaining but after the US had a twenty-five plus point lead things got a bit boring. Should a fan in attendance simply marvel at the display or hope for a more competitive game? I say both.

The second game of the double header was Argentina vs. Russia which proved to be a much more hard fought game that went down to the final minutes, something hard to find in Olympic Basketball.

Argentina's Andres Nocioni led the way and helped them put away the Russians who put up a tough fight to the end.

The biggest commotion of the two game set was clearly when the crowd realized there was a soccer legend in the arena. Argentina's great Diego Maradona was there to cheer on his boys against the Russians. Once the Chinese realized who he was, or simply that he was someone famous, they mobbed his section in an attempt to take photos of the once great soccer star. Security was forced to move Diego to the media section for some peace.


The crowd for the USA vs. Germany game was silent. By my estimates, 75-80% of the crowd was Chinese and they didn't seem too interested in cheering for either team. The loudest cheers I heard were when walking out of the venue, the entire crowd started doing the one "Jai-Yo!" cheer led by a volunteer with a megaphone. I thought I was leaving a Phish concert or something in Camden.