On Jun. 25, I had the pleasure of attending the Filipino basketball league championship game and what an atmosphere.
It was one of the best atmospheres I have experienced since moving to Saskatchewan and this was the championship game for a recreational basketball league.
Fans were yelling and screaming from start to finish as they cheered every basketball and ah’d every miss,.
It was great.
I learned that basketball is a very important sport to Filipinos and they take it as seriously as Canadians take hockey.
I went to a number of playoff games for the Humboldt Minor Broncos hockey teams and the atmosphere in the Elgar Peterson Arena was electric, just like the atmosphere in the Humboldt Public School gym on the 25th.
A lot of times in sport I find that the crowd has a lot to do with how much fun the game is to watch.
That is what makes playoff sport so exciting.
Think about watching a hockey game or a baseball, football, or basketball game. How exciting would it be if there were either no fans in the stadium, or arena, or all of the fans make no sound at all?
I think back to many times in my life where I have been in the building for the game or have been watching on television and the crowd has been going crazy.
That energy is palpable, it gets me amped up every time.
I went to a couple of Ottawa Senators games as a kid with my mom and she always used to complain about not enjoying watching the game because there was no commentary.
Her problem wasn’t with the fact that there was no one telling her what was happening in the game her problem was with how quiet that building was that night.
I was lucky enough to go to a Stanley Cup playoff game in Ottawa one season when my mom won free tickets.
The crowd was on fire.
After the game I never heard my mom complain once about the game.
Why? Because it was loud in the building and the intensity of the fans made the game even more fun to watch.
Now admittedly if the game is a blow out it does not matter what the crowd is doing but in a lot of those cases if the game is not close the crowd is not into the game.
While sitting in the stands several of the fans at the basketball game apologized to me for being so loud and proud, and I kept telling them not to be sorry because it was great.
They made that excellent basketball game even more exciting just through their cheering.
I remember as a kid playing many sports and some of the most fun I had while playing was not always when I was winning but when I was apart of a game where the fans were really into it.
So remember that the next time you go to a sporting event.
Be loud, be proud because it makes it more fun for everyone, just be respectful.
