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| Lithuanian basketball supporters - no better! :) |
It's true - Norway is not a bad sports country at all! Especially when it comes to winter sports and skiing, we practically wipe the slate clean. (But there is always something to complain about: Either we do not take enough gold medals in the winter olympics (which is bad), or we take too many - which unfortunately is bad too, because that makes everyone else loose interest.) And there are indeed others sportsmen and women, too, doing great!
And still....
Somehow Norwegian sports stopped bringing tears to my eyes quite a while ago. It is not like my childhood heroes - I can recall some moments from skiing and football.. Moments that are way back in time, when I was a small boy. I can still remember them, I remember where I was, what I was doing. These are almost mythological moments for me - and many others!
And when it comes to TEAMS... The only team that can bring some enthusiasm to the nation is the women's handball team. The men's football team, which was kind of a national pride 20 years back, has become reduced to a stagnated, boring and irrelevant joke. I cannot even say that it matters to me very much any more if they win or not.
Maybe it's our expectation that we - because of our oil - SHOULD be good that has made the whole thing a bit boring? Maybe it is all the money pumped into it? Or maybe it is my fault that the tear is not there anymore? Probably it is me: After all, I know a lot of people who would cry and die for their local football team, for example. But, as I said, I can hardly remember last time Norwegian sports brought a tear to my eye
10 years ago, I had absolutely no interest in basketball whatsoever.
Then I got a Lithuanian girlfriend (now wife), and started to travel to Lithuania. Lithuanian basketball is HUGE, and the national team is one of the best in Europe - indeeed in the world! And you immediately understand that basketball is not only sports. It is religion. It is national pride. For a small nation, it is so, so, so much. There are only 3 million-or-so Lithuanians. A lot of people do not know where Lithuania is. But there is basketball!!
And I remember standing in the square in front of the old town hall in Vilnius in 2009 watching Lithuania-Spain on a big screen, Lithuania was loosing, everythig was going down the drain. Beside me there was a HUGE man standing together with his little five-year-or-so old son, and the last minutes of the game and afterwards, they were holding hands and crying bitterly. It was so bloody BEAUTIFUL!
Purely as a game, I have started to really enjoy watching basketball. I understand it a little bit more, I appreciate the speed, the way a game can change so amazingly fast. But nowhere do I enjoy it as much as in Lithuania, where it means something, where it really brings people together. The moment I saw that father and son together in the moment of defeat: That is when Lithuanian basketball won me over totally. I hope to see them together in moment of victory soon!
I cannot claim that it is "my" team. But my heart roots for the Lithuanian national basketball team like for no other team :)
And this song never fails to bring goosebumps to my skin!
Three Million
Perhaps we fought too much and for too long,
Perhaps we repeated for too long the word "honor" (Yeah-yeah, yeah-yeah).
Perhaps we sometimes required too much from others,
and sometimes we wanted to win too quietly.
But I was there,
and sang our lucky victory songs,
held two fingers in the air
because no one can wrong the defeated,
nor pelt them with stones.
That was all long ago—
you’ve lived peacefully for too long,
but my living blood will revive again,
like the grass revives after a good rain.
(yeah-yeah, yeah-yeah).
Don’t torture yourself over a medal,
though it’s worth it to fight to the end for honor.
Let’s try again from the beginning,
though in the world we’re only three million.
Don't spill your blood for gold
for you'll be a legend
while we have hope,
even if, again,
only by an error we didn't become champions.
And I said a thousand times to my friend:
"We’re good, we’re strong, today we’ll win,"
and he said, "Hell no,"
and he was right a thousand times, but,
but better not live than live without faith (Yeah).
We don't hang our heads even if we fail
nine times in a row.
We're not among those
Who lose still undefeated.
Even fear doesn’t remain,
after all is over and quieted down.
You can die from despair or good luck,
even those who play only chess or darts.
And it happens, sometimes,
you’re left alone without a friend
but you feel as if someone’s looking out for you.
Over one night, we grew huge,
and we’re strong anew. (Yeah-o, yeah-o, yeah-o).
Don’t torture yourself over a medal,
though it’s worth it to fight to the end for honor.
Let’s try again from the beginning,
though in the world we’re only three million.
Don't spill your blood for gold
for you'll be a legend
while we have hope,
even if, again,
only by an error we didn't become champions
(repeat)
Trans. Algirdas Zolynas
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