The scene was crazy - the entire top level on the eastern end was bought out by a single Lithuanian basketball club. They arrived wearing matching shirts: Those in the top third wore yellow shirts, those in the middle third wore green and those on the bottom third wore red shirts making a huge human lithuanian flag. I would say that there were 2000-3000 people there with this single club all sitting together.
I have to be honest with you - these folks were there to have a good time. And it was a little contagious. There was a charm and a spirit behind this solid pack of fans that reminded me of european football matches. Or at least of a wild NCAA crowd. It was great to see fans actually into things.
To say these folks were enthusiastic is a gross understatement. They were doing the wave. Dozens of times. They were singing a national song. Clapping in unison. And they would go absolutely ape-**** at the most random times (usually when the Lithuanian guy from the Bulls ended up on the big screen - and he didn't even dress for the game).
Then I started to get annoyed.
After a while, their enthusiastic cheering and chanting had almost nothing to do with the game itself. They would chant while the hometown Bulls were shooting free throws (remember Chandler missing 2 in a row). They would begin a song after a foul. The would do the wave during timeouts.
The bulls couldn't concentrate during most of the game - the strange timing of the crowd noise seemed to have them a little spooked.
They also couldn't seem to get on the same page on who to root for. When Sarunas came into the game the noise was deafening. (And this was the sequnce of plays for him: 1) Gets picked HARD resulting in a Bulls basket - 2) Turns the ball over 3) loses his man again. 4) Misses a wide-open 16 footer. None of that reduced the Lithuanian contingency's excitement.
When he hit his back-to-back 3's, the lady behind me asked her husband "why are they rooting for the other team now?" Her husband said "I don't think they really care that much about the Bulls." I turned around and told them that the guy that hit the baskets was Lithuanian.
They half laughed: "HaHa. Oh ... Uh ... Okay."
Around the start of the 4th quarter, things started to get a little out of control. The bulls pep squad or whatever you want to call them were using cannons to shoot wadded up t-shirts up into the upper decks. Some in the "flag zone" seemed to thing that throwing things was a GREAT idea. First came wadded bits of paper - then came souvenirs.
My wife said "Holy ****. That paper airplane nearly hit the court!"
And then it started. The paper airplanes were raining down, and the Lithuanian crowd was loving it. As an airplane got close to the court, the cheers would increase. Eventually, two airplanes mad it onto the court and I was mad as hell.
Anyone here accidentally step on a piece of paper on a slick court? Anyone not get hurt when it happened?
Now, does anyone remember a sort of nonsensical time out called by Carlisle just before our collapse? You might not know this. At the time, the Pacers were coming up the court and there were 2 paper airplanes on our side of the court. The refs didn't seem to notice.
What was already a crazy situation suddenly found focus in the cheapest of ways. The big screen put up a "noise-o-meter" which is a fake way to get the crowd to cheer during an inbounds. The louder the crowd cheers, supposedly the higher the meter goes. Anyone who's been to a game knows that only little kids fall for this kind of thing. Well, little kids and Lithuanians. They completely erupted at the sight of this thing. You couldn't think during this noise.
Someone took notice. I could hear the sound guy now: "What the hell? The noise-ometer WORKED?!?!? Let's try it again!"
The bulls AV guy used the thing at least a dozen times in the last 8 minutes of the game. The most jarring thing was that suddenly the crowd noise was focused and timed with the events on the court. The Bulls got in rythm. No, not just in rythm. They got PUMPED! The Pacers on the other hand looked confused an bewildered.
There is NO WAY our guys could have heard each other on the court. There is no way they could have heard anything from the bench. They were blowing plays, running into each other. It was chaos.
As the game got closer and closer, the crowd got more into it as the rest of the stadium joined in with the flag brigade. I buried my head in my hands. I felt like someone punched me in the stomach. I really did feel like I was going to throw up.
Now before any of our Lith members come on here and feel like what I had to say was an insult to the country of Lithuania: let me tell you this: They were Chicago people first and fore-most. And the "participation" of this crowd directly resulted in a Bulls win. The Pacers loss was a side effect. And I expected this crowd to root for the home team. I was just floored by the WAY they rooted.
And to the admins: I would prefer that this post stay in the Pacers forum and stay open as long as possible. But if trash ensues, I don't mind those offending posts be moved elsewhere.
Thanks.
Go Pacers.
I have to be honest with you - these folks were there to have a good time. And it was a little contagious. There was a charm and a spirit behind this solid pack of fans that reminded me of european football matches. Or at least of a wild NCAA crowd. It was great to see fans actually into things.
To say these folks were enthusiastic is a gross understatement. They were doing the wave. Dozens of times. They were singing a national song. Clapping in unison. And they would go absolutely ape-**** at the most random times (usually when the Lithuanian guy from the Bulls ended up on the big screen - and he didn't even dress for the game).
Then I started to get annoyed.
After a while, their enthusiastic cheering and chanting had almost nothing to do with the game itself. They would chant while the hometown Bulls were shooting free throws (remember Chandler missing 2 in a row). They would begin a song after a foul. The would do the wave during timeouts.
The bulls couldn't concentrate during most of the game - the strange timing of the crowd noise seemed to have them a little spooked.
They also couldn't seem to get on the same page on who to root for. When Sarunas came into the game the noise was deafening. (And this was the sequnce of plays for him: 1) Gets picked HARD resulting in a Bulls basket - 2) Turns the ball over 3) loses his man again. 4) Misses a wide-open 16 footer. None of that reduced the Lithuanian contingency's excitement.
When he hit his back-to-back 3's, the lady behind me asked her husband "why are they rooting for the other team now?" Her husband said "I don't think they really care that much about the Bulls." I turned around and told them that the guy that hit the baskets was Lithuanian.
They half laughed: "HaHa. Oh ... Uh ... Okay."
Around the start of the 4th quarter, things started to get a little out of control. The bulls pep squad or whatever you want to call them were using cannons to shoot wadded up t-shirts up into the upper decks. Some in the "flag zone" seemed to thing that throwing things was a GREAT idea. First came wadded bits of paper - then came souvenirs.
My wife said "Holy ****. That paper airplane nearly hit the court!"
And then it started. The paper airplanes were raining down, and the Lithuanian crowd was loving it. As an airplane got close to the court, the cheers would increase. Eventually, two airplanes mad it onto the court and I was mad as hell.
Anyone here accidentally step on a piece of paper on a slick court? Anyone not get hurt when it happened?
Now, does anyone remember a sort of nonsensical time out called by Carlisle just before our collapse? You might not know this. At the time, the Pacers were coming up the court and there were 2 paper airplanes on our side of the court. The refs didn't seem to notice.
What was already a crazy situation suddenly found focus in the cheapest of ways. The big screen put up a "noise-o-meter" which is a fake way to get the crowd to cheer during an inbounds. The louder the crowd cheers, supposedly the higher the meter goes. Anyone who's been to a game knows that only little kids fall for this kind of thing. Well, little kids and Lithuanians. They completely erupted at the sight of this thing. You couldn't think during this noise.
Someone took notice. I could hear the sound guy now: "What the hell? The noise-ometer WORKED?!?!? Let's try it again!"
The bulls AV guy used the thing at least a dozen times in the last 8 minutes of the game. The most jarring thing was that suddenly the crowd noise was focused and timed with the events on the court. The Bulls got in rythm. No, not just in rythm. They got PUMPED! The Pacers on the other hand looked confused an bewildered.
There is NO WAY our guys could have heard each other on the court. There is no way they could have heard anything from the bench. They were blowing plays, running into each other. It was chaos.
As the game got closer and closer, the crowd got more into it as the rest of the stadium joined in with the flag brigade. I buried my head in my hands. I felt like someone punched me in the stomach. I really did feel like I was going to throw up.
Now before any of our Lith members come on here and feel like what I had to say was an insult to the country of Lithuania: let me tell you this: They were Chicago people first and fore-most. And the "participation" of this crowd directly resulted in a Bulls win. The Pacers loss was a side effect. And I expected this crowd to root for the home team. I was just floored by the WAY they rooted.
And to the admins: I would prefer that this post stay in the Pacers forum and stay open as long as possible. But if trash ensues, I don't mind those offending posts be moved elsewhere.
Thanks.
Go Pacers.
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