SAIGON HEAT

Last night I went to the Saigon Heat basketball game. This is a brand new basketball team... playing in the "Asean Basketball League".

I knew this would be an experience... but oh my. It was amazing (and hilarious!).

The Tan Binh Stadium is pretty far outside of the city... and I arrived to find myself amidst a huge crowd of motorbikes attempting to form two lanes to get into the parking area. After buying my ticket (150,000 dong... or about $7.50 for the lower level), we found ourselves in the stadium...

It all felt more like a college basketball game. There were no assigned seats, so we ended up sitting in the front row!

Most of Saigon Heat's players are Vietnamese... but there are two Americans on the team as well (in the red and black shirts below)!

Saigon Heat basketball, 2012.

Jonathan Jones and Julius Hodge are the two Americans on the HCMC professional basketball team. ...Julius Hodge (#24) even played for the Denver Nuggets during the 2005-2006 season!

(Hodge is in the black T.)

The cheerleaders for the team are called the Saigon Hot Girls... and their cheering/dancing was... well... uncomfortable at most. Below is part of the Hot Girls' halftime routine...

The night's MC was one cool dude..

I'm not sure what this group's job was... but it was apparently very important because it took 5 of them to do it...

The game was noisy! There was one woman who would announce (by yelling into the microphone in broken English) every substitution, "ONE SUBSTITUTION FOR THE WHITE TEAM." ...Each foul, "PERSONAL FOUL. NUMBER THREE. RED TEAM."... Each foul shot (which I thought she was counting, "two, three, four" the first few times, haha)... "TWO FREE THROWS."...Aaaand how long was left in each quarter, "TWO MINUTES REMAINING IN THE THIRD QUARTER."

On top of the announcer was the MC ...and the two DJs. There was no communication between any of them, so it was often all at once. The game felt as if we were in a rather hectic, odd world of a video game... the DJs played with the various sound effect buttons on their keyboards... a lot.

The DJs especially liked playing sound effects while the other team threw foul shots... breaking glass, whistling, or a boing... "BOIIIINNGGG."  

Some game shots...