While there are potatoes and salt
“I’m nervous. It’s hard to watch,” many fans who tried to watch the games on a TV screen admitted during the tournament. However, the games captivated just like suspense movies, only once in a while you wanted to close your eyes so as not to see something predictably terrible. But those are just emotions.
Ex-president Andris Bērziņš also watched the tournament. “On Saturday, we were digging potatoes, we had a lunch break so that we could watch our basketball players play with the Lithuanians,” the ex-president told “Neattakirigo”, “and I was happy with how our young people are able to mobilize themselves for victory, how they are trying to get their place under the sports sun. It’s actually phenomenal that the relatively big basketball countries “got a mouthful” from countries that are relatively small.”
But that smallness is only apparent, because the spirit is already great. And if this spirit is “fed” with good potatoes, the harvest of which is expensive this year, then everything is fine: we will survive the winter. “If we can buy salt from a neighboring country to pour it on fried potatoes, whose cellar is full, no one will die of hunger,” says optimistically Andris Bērziņš. Let’s hope that our basketball players are also potato lovers – potato pancake gourmands. Probably like the Lithuanians – with their potato zeppelins. Brother nations though.
Sports relations are terminated because of bad fans
“There is no reference point, because we finally – for the first time – entered this World Cup. And it all came together with a successful result. It is often the case that a team has a couple of stars, and then someone feels that those stars will pull the team. No, the team is usually in the foreground,” said journalist, writer and sports connoisseur Armands Puče, while chatting with “Neatsarigo”, “besides, the team consists not only of players, there are also doctors, physiotherapists, little spirits who bring towels and water to the coach… , of course, has his role, but he doesn’t go on the field and throw the ball.”
Maybe the coach should know how to inspire? Perhaps the coach of the Latvian team, Luka Banki, is just like that – with the ability to inspire? Puche advises not to exaggerate: “What does it mean to inspire? We are not talking about a group of businesswomen, but about adults, many of whom already have families and children. What inspiration is there? They are just doing their job responsibly. That is often enough.”
And yet, the fateful last shot in the game with the German national team comes to mind: if a “three-pointer” hit the basket, our team might even have a chance to fight for the gold. “We can just as well look at the fatal “three-pointer” that the French threw at our basket. If it hit, we’d be watching on Saturday… no, we wouldn’t be watching anything at all. We would all dig potatoes, for example,” Puche laughs, “but basketball players do what they know how to do.”
The game between the Latvians and the Lithuanians, in which our team won with 98:63, of course, looked great, but what had happened to the Lithuanians? They gave up? “No, they would never give up to Latvia,” Puče argues, “it doesn’t matter if it’s a friendly game or a game of freedom, or a game for a place in the tournament table. You need to read the old chronicles: in 1939, Latvia even temporarily broke off sports relations with Lithuania – because of basketball. At that time, the Lithuanians won the European Championship in Kaunas by one point, but the atmosphere was such that the leish fans behaved very rudely, and the Latvian sports management believed that it was disrespectful to the athletes.”
Lithuanians did not give up. We won
We read (the newspaper “Brīvā Zeme”, June 5, 1939): “After the European basketball championships in Kaunas, the supreme leader of the country’s sports life, the minister of public affairs, A. Bērziņš, was informed about the behavior of the public there towards our athletes. The minister then made a relevant decision. The decision found that – the spectators (..) blew incorrect whistles at our players and interfered with their execution of free throws, made noise, whistled and stomped their feet. (..) The Lithuanian-Latvian basketball race was connected to the radio, and tens of thousands of sports fans in Latvia also heard the extremely incorrect behavior of the audience. (..) Latvian sports management, not being able to guarantee a particularly friendly attitude of the public towards Lithuanian athletes if they visit Latvia, announces that it regrets that it is forced to stop all sports competitions between Lithuanian and Latvian athletes, until the Lithuanian sports management can definitely guarantee its correct and hospitable behavior of spectators towards our athletes.”
“No, the Lithuanians did not give up. We won,” explains Puche, speaking about the last – Saturday – game. “Because what do athletes play for? For the fans. If they didn’t win, it doesn’t mean they didn’t want to win. It means that the opponent was stronger.”
You have to learn to say thank you
There is no doubt that sporting victories raise national self-confidence. But Puche is pragmatic: “It’s like a garden with a stone path overgrown with moss. We weed the moss so that the path looks good. It’s the same with the entertainment industry: we judge our compatriots who compete with other teams, and the victories “root out” the moss. But the ability to do work and be happy with the results of work is a sign of a healthy nation.”
However, Puche calls not to declare every basketball player a national hero, as this, in his opinion, would be an exaggeration: the main thing is to do your job well. “Imagine how many professions there are, in which every day – every day! – the work must be done perfectly. Moreover, the most important thing is not the last name on the back of the athlete’s shirt, but the name on the chest – Latvia. Not only little boys who dream of victories should be shown – it’s great that we have our own country, it should be seen and understood by everyone.”
Puche believes that the fifth place won by our national team is very good. Because it’s our first time. “We can enjoy the fact that we have reached the World Cup at all,” says Puche, “but we should not exaggerate the heroics. Our guys did a great job and we have to thank them. As with many things, we must learn to say thank you. It should be done much more often.”
We only see what happens on the “stage”
Mārtiņš Bondars, politician, former professional basketball player, easily distracted while watching the basketball game between Canada and the USA, nevertheless willingly agrees to the conversation with the “Independent” (because the USA coach requested a two-minute break). “The 5th place of the Latvian national team in the World Cup is an excellent achievement,” he begins and continues. “There are three things. First, incredible fan support. When our team played in Jakarta and Manila – they were like home games. Secondly, we have a fantastic coach – Luka Banki. Fantastic, how he taught with such little resources to achieve a result against teams with much more substantial resources. Thirdly, excellent discipline and game performance of basketball players.”
Bondars explained that by the small resource, he meant the length of the reserve bench: “Latvia is in a weaker position compared to other teams, because it has a much shorter bench. Many teams have star players sitting on the bench, we don’t have that yet. However, we have a united team.”
Bondars believes that every athlete with a jersey with the name Latvia on the chest, an athlete who has achieved success, raises our common spirit. “We see what happens on the sports ‘stage’, but we don’t see the brutal work they put in every day, what happens in the weight room, running cross country or swimming, donating their time and energy. That cannot be underestimated,” says Bondar.
2023-09-11 02:15:28
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