The thrill of the game

Around Cluj-Napoca
Nov 3 · 5 min read
Source: U-BT Facebook Page

’’When was the last time you did something for the first time?” says the quote and together with it, a good friend of mine to me around this period last year. The question rose from a conversation in which I told her how dull my life has become. Every day, my routine looked kind of like this: home-job-college-home-repeat, and the worst part is that I didn’t realize when this routine took control of my entire life. Thus, I knew something had to change and that I have to find a new passion that would give my life a little spark again. And so came basketball.

I never watched this sport before, and quite honestly, I didn’t understand much from the first game I attended. It was something else that drawn me into going back ever since game after game and that was the audience, the vibe and how this sport managed to give me some much thrill and energy that after walking out the door to feel like I can conquer the world.

Like any other amateur enthuziast of something, I went back home and started researching about this game: the rules, other teams in Romania and, to be completely honest, lots and lots of hours of NBA games.

After I was all set up I started going consistently to all the games Cluj-Napoca had to offer. The games are usually held at BT Arena, at a decent hour for all the people who have a job to be able to attend. In Romanian basketball, there are two big competitions: the Romanian Cup and the Romanian League. The semifinal/final of the cup were the next games I attended in 2018, where our team lost unfortunately to CSM Oradea, which later beat us again in the play-offs of the Romanian League and later on, winning the first place.

The fans of U-BT were highly dissapointed last year, due to the fact that the team from the heart of Transylvania has a tradition of winning every year if not both, then at least one of the two competitions. The drama intensified after the coach of the team quit and most of the international players have been replaced after the season ended in May 2018.

Source: U-BT Facebook Page

During the summer, not many news have been shared about what will happen to the team. All my friends who are sharing this passion with me were conviced that the team is done. The world of basketball in Romania is shape-shifting from season to season. Sibiu became Cup champions of 22 years, Târgu-Mureș’s team got extinct after being one of the most successful in the country year after year. So, we thought that this was the end of ours.

However, in September, the team announced that it brough in one of the most famous and results-driven coach in all of Europe (also won the European Coach of the year in 2009), called Duško Vujošević. The past coach returned at the team as secondary coach and the team was slowly starting to pick itself up again. By the end of September, the team was formed and they started training earlier than any of the other Romanian teams. If this doesn’t scream Phoenix bird to you, I don’t know what does.

Source: U-BT Facebook Page

Here we are again: new team, new coach, new season. The first game from the Romanian League held in Cluj-Napoca was with none other than CSM Oradea, the team that disqualified us last season from both the Cup and the League championship. All my friend and I bought tickets in advance, because, as we imagined, the Arena was packed. We had hopes that maybe this time we will win, but truth be told, everyone in the room was nervous, as Oradea just won the supercup against Sibiu one week ago.

The game started out slowly in Oradea’s favour but, to our surprise, the first 2 quarters of the game U-BT was leading with a pretty big score difference, making everyone in the room go outside for the 15 minute cigarette break with a big smile on their face.

Source: U-BT Facebook Page

The players got more relaxed during the 3rd quarter and Oradea’s coach saw that. He called a time-out to tell his players a new strategy and in less than 5 minutes, the 14 point difference turned into 5. The game was back on again on court, and the thrill of a disaster similar to the prior season in our minds.

Source: U-BT Facebook Page

The 4th and last quarter was the most tense one. All the arena was standing as the scoreboard showed a difference of 3 points (which in basketball, is just one good shot from outside the perimeter). Nobody wanted to lose this game. In the last 2 minutes, the arena was screaming, claping and cheering on for their favourite team. I believe this gave the players hope and the strenght to keep the score in their favour. The buzzer came in and the score was clear: 89–82 for our team. The crowd went wild and the players hugged eachother. This was the win they needed to validate themselves and to assure us that U-BT Cluj-Napoca was on the right track to win the champiosnhip this year and to carry out a tradition that has been a part of the city since 100 years back. For now, U-BT has never lost a game since the season started. They are in the first place both in the Romanian championship as well as in the European FIBA Cup.

As for me, I got my hobby back. My heart was pounding for all 40 minutes of the game and I cannot wait to go back this Friday to another milestone that this team has to achieve: a victory against Sibiu.

If you’re tempted to try something new, to add up a thrill in your life then I definitely recommend you to start going to these games. You can check the schedule and the location on the U-BT website. The rules are easy to learn and you can also pick them up from game to game. Haide U!

by Larisa Pop

    A collective blog of the second year MA Media Communication students from FSPAC. Our stories will help you discover Cluj-Napoca from a new perspective.

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