It was tight down the stretch, 44 all with six minutes to play, then 46 all, and finally 51 all with a minute fifty-one left on the clock when things started to slip away. First, a quick lay-up made it 53-51 followed by dagger of a three from the top left was the final nail in the coffin bringing the score to 56-51. The frenzy of those last several minutes complete with train whistles, bass drums and school flags represented the greatest non-nationalistic fervor I have yet witnessed in this country. I spent a few minutes learning the Chinese words for 'referee' and 'bribe' in order to properly heckle in the native language. Meanwhile, Matt seemed furious at the very game of basketball, though this being the first match he had ever seen a few of the finer points of the game were as yet unknown to him. Being our resident Brit he wondered if anyone ever gets sin-binned, why people get free shots for seemingly innocuous contact and how standing for three seconds in the same place and not touching anyone could possibly be a foul, while occasionally throwing in the words 'bollocks' and 'rubbish' wherever they seemed appropriate. It's amazing how accurate an impartial observer can be.
When the lights and din finally faded from the hall, the boys from TJB gathered their things and walked slowly and silently to the waiting busses. Earlier in the night, Li Yun Fan and the other members of the girls team won the girls championship so when I arrived they were simply ecstatic, snapping pictures and chanting. Those same girls left the gym in tears at the end of the night. It seemed their win was banished from their memories and their jubilation replaced with red swollen eyes the contrast of the emotional highs and lows overwhelming.
The emotional investment in this entire event seemed entirely disproportionate. Even among the teachers, the men were speechless and a few of the women reduced to tears. It probably wouldn't have been so bad if the game hadn't been against our rivals and at their home court in front of thousands of their frenetic students. We've managed to turn the hackneyed Disny-esque convention on its head, and the inner city school of Yi Zhong representing not the plucky underdogs, but the wealthy and priveledged triumphed over our school from the outskirts the city among the farms.
On an unrelated note, it's finally cold here, more on that next time.
