Alright, so let’s talk about Zhejiang Guangsha basketball. My whole thing with them, it wasn’t planned, you know? Just kinda happened. I was shipped off to Hangzhou for a work project, not really a basketball nut back then, more into just, well, getting the job done and maybe seeing a bit of the city if I had time.
My First Brush with the Lions
So, there I am, settling in, and the local guys I worked with, they were always going on about “the Lions.” That’s Guangsha. At first, I just nodded along, didn’t pay it much mind. But then, one of ’em pretty much dragged me to a game. Said I had to “experience the local fire.” Figured, why not? Beats staring at my hotel room walls.
And man, I gotta say, the atmosphere in that stadium hit me. It was loud, packed, people really into it. I didn’t catch all the rules or plays instantly, but the sheer energy was something. I remember watching the players hustle, diving for loose balls. It was raw, not like some of the super polished stuff you see elsewhere. I just found myself watching them, trying to figure out who was who.
Down the Rabbit Hole
After that first game, I started looking up their scores. Then I began catching games on TV whenever I could. Sometimes it was a grainy stream, but hey, it was something. I started to recognize the players, you know, guys like Hu Jinqiu and Sun Minghui. They became familiar faces on my screen. I wasn’t an expert, not by a long shot, but I was definitely following along.
So, how did I get so wrapped up in it? Well, that work project I mentioned? It hit a massive roadblock. Suddenly, I had a lot of evenings, and I mean a lot, with nothing much to do. My Mandarin wasn’t good enough for deep conversations, and exploring got old after a while when you’re just waiting around for work stuff to clear up.
So, basketball became my thing. My routine kinda became:
- Check the Lions’ schedule religiously.
- Figure out how to watch the next game, no matter how obscure the channel or stream.
- Actually sit there and watch, getting frustrated, getting excited.
- Try to decipher what the local commentators were screaming about.
I even started to pick up on their playing style. They always seemed to have this fighting spirit. Maybe not always the most talented team on paper some years, but they’d scrap for wins. I remember a few games where they pulled off upsets, and the online forums I’d peek at would just explode. Good times, even if I was mostly a silent observer.
It’s been a while since I was over there, and my project eventually finished, but I still find myself checking in on how Zhejiang Guangsha is doing. Funny how a team you just stumble upon can leave a mark, right? It was my little window into something local, something real, during a pretty quiet time for me personally.
