Eurobasket 2009

Finally i found some time to process photos from the Eurobasket. I was happy to be able to go for the one the games during the the group phase. Unfortunately (i’ve been thinking then like that…) i had to go to Łódź. But in fact it was really good coincidence, because i was on very interesting games there. There were 3 games that night Lithuania-Serbia [ 79 – 89 ], Poland – Spain [ 68 – 90 ] and Turkey – Slovenia [ 67 – 69 ]. Near the sport hall there was basketball feast with the small basketball village near the hall. Maybe It was not like in basket-loving countries, because in PL football is on the 1st place, but it was great atmosphere anyway. Many supporters from different countries was having fun, painted with their country colours, with flags, singing and shouting, every way supporting their teams. For example there were many Lithuanian supporters believing in their team. LIthuanian national team surprisingly was weak on this championships and won only one game, but supporters were still singing and having fun. Great! Other visible and well organized group were Spanish supporters – with flags and interesting disguises (which i hope to show you later on the photos) and paintings, also wearing spain flags or having t-shirts especially for this occasion. And the last – the most loud and green group were Slovenian supporters. Even now i remember them shouting : S-L-O-V-E-NI-J-J-A !! Nice. It was really worth to be there.

I bought medium prized ticket – it was valid for all three games, and i supposed to be in the corner of the hall in the middle, but the attendance was very poor, especially when Polish national team was not playing, so i quickly changed place for better one, close to the court just near the middle line.

It was great evening to see playing best teams in the Europe. Poland was trying hard to reach Spain during theirs game, but the difference was too big and too visible. As the example – during the warm-up, the Spanish player from the NBA came on the court – Juan Carlos Navarro. I couldn’t believe what he was doing during the warm-up, he was throwing 3-pointers one by one from different positions… He missed the first one almost after 10 minutes after about 30 hitting the basket in the row… After the miss he started the series again… Astonishing ! In Poland I think only Andrzej Pluta can try to keep pace with him…

The last game Slovenia-Turkey was also very interesting – especially that i’ve supported Slovenia mostly because Jagodnik who played in Polish PLK league…

It was really great event ! I was happy to be there. The only regret that organization could be better, and the marketing and ads could be more visible…

So – I’ve started to process some photos – here you have some of them. They are almost randomly chose from the whole catalogue. Check it out !

On the photo above you can see the hall in Łódź, quite a new one – recently built.
Below you can see the occasional T-Shirt of te Spain supporters. On the second you can see the team of Spain. The last one – spain supporters in Spain national flags.

Here on the first photo you can see Polish National Team with Marcin Gortat and Maciej Lampe on the foreground. On the 2nd photo there is Spain during the Spain anthem. First in the row is Jorge Garbajosa. Second from the end is Pau Gasol (NBA – LA Lakers) later MVP of the whole tournament. Last one is Juan Carlos Navarro – that guy who shoots threepointers like machine… On the 3rd photo you can see the Łódź Hall.

Finally the game itself. Only one shot from the action – you can see David Logan (Poland – LOL – American Indian as Polish National) fighting with Navarro with help of Maciej Lampe with screen. On the 3rd you can see the supporters of Slovenija.Waiting for the next game… Empty chairs with towels prepared.

Now game Slovenija- Turkey and Turkey supporters. 3rd photo – Slovenija supporter. On the last photo you can see Hedo Turkoglu (NBA- Orlando Magic) with the interview after losing the game.