It's not UConn but it'll do

I wouldn't say I'm a big sports fan. I'm a spectator. I watch sports to appreciate the skill, strength, endurance, and sometimes the rare display of what is humanly possible.

The one sport I have come close to being a fan is basketball. I was born and bred in Connecticut, home of the UConn huskies. As the cold, snowy days of February drag on, watching basketball on CPTV or trudging across the ice covered streets of Storrs to Gampel Pavillion is nirvana.  And while most people cheer for Jim Calhoun and his boys (or cheered in past tense), the Howie house has always been a UConn ladies' house. Connecticut is probably one of only two states that give a hoot about women's basketball. It could be the only sport both my Mom AND Dad follow. And by follow, I mean post the schedule on the fridge, watch every game, and yell at the refs or the players when they (as in the refs and players) are having a tough night. Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird, Swin Cash, Svetlana Abrosimova, and Maya Moore are the sporting heroes of my world.

 

But I do try to diversify. Maryland and Duke basketball games were some of the most exciting sporting events I've been too. Thousands of fans and students crammed into the Comcast Center in black, red, yellow and white cheering very inappropriate things, rushing the court after a close win, and then rushing the streets of Route 1 only to be corralled by police on horseback and rubber bullets. We Terps don't mess around.

 

And the Lady Terrapins won the national championship. We rioted then too (But I couldn't be completely excited, as that meant UConn had to lose). I went to a couple basketball games at South Carolina, but let's just say that one of the football players plays for the basketball season in the off season. With Dawn Staley at the helm, the women are on the rise, but it's a long way from the blue and white dynasty.

The last basketball game I went to was the Connecticut Sun, a WNBA game. Living 10 minutes from the homecourt  my parents frequent their games (may also be because they have a lot of ex-huskies playing) and when I'm home, I'm lucky enough for them to take me along.

So when I had the opportunity to go see Perth's professional basketball team, the Wildcats, play, I jumped at it (similar to the way I used to jump for the tip off on the courts of Ledyard High, not very high but full of enthusiasm). Basketball is my quintessential American sport, invented by James Naismith in , MA, where I drive by the Basketball Hall of Fame every time I visit my sister. Springfield. So Friday night, I went to the basketball. Turns out, it was a lot like the Sun games I went to last (although I'm sure the Sun played more defense).

The Wildcats are at the top of the league and play in the big brand new Perth Arena. It was a pretty vast sea of red for a non-native sporting event. And they tried to make it as American as they could from the lights and music to the cheerleaders and boys in morph suits (that's for you Will Douthit!).

I was confused by the cheerleaders, as the Wilcats' color is red and they were in purple. But don't let me get onto a rant about cheerleaders... One thing that was quite obvious, if not a bit politically incorrect, was the high proportion of white players. Ok, almost ALL white players. Except two guys on the Perth team. Turns out that Australian teams get 2 imports, everyone else has to be Australian. In the words of a friend, "If you don't get two big Americans, you've wasted your imports." Glad to see Americans held in such high esteem.

The actual basketball was typical of men's ball. All showmanship and no defense. But that's what "fans" like, no? We did win. And while college teams across the US start getting anxious for March Madness (which people haven't even heard of over here), I got to experience a little piece of my favorite American sport down under.