For Christmas this year, Žalgiris Kaunas is offering Christmas greetings in the best fashion Lithuanians know: With basketball, electronic card-style.
Head on over to the official website by clicking here to a page that merrily welcomes you with “Žalgiris Kaunas welcomes the approaching winter holidays and gives good cheer!” (“Kauno Žalgiris sveikina su artéjančiomis Žiemos shventémis ir dovanoja geras emocijas!”)
Scroll down a bit to see the entire animated Žalgiris squad – all four Americans, two Slovenians and nine Lithuanians – making this celebration truly international (or at least regionally internationally). Left to right are Tomas Delininkaitis, Mantas Klanietis, Aleksandar Capin, DeJuan Collins, Dainius Salenga, Marcus Brown, Paulius Jankunas, Martynas “Air” Pocius, Mirza Begic, Travis Watson, Tadas Klimavicus, Mindaugas Kuzinskas, Omar Samhan, and Arturas Milaknis.
Click on one of the dudes for “a surprise.” Actually, at first, what you get is a menu (not too suprisingly, BiE’ll admit), from which each Žalgiris player offers a choice of už kadro (“behind the scenes”); trys taški (“three pointer”); déjimas į krepsį (let’s call this “dunk” – online translation software offers me the highly amusing but ultimately unhelpful “incorporation into the basket”); or sveikinimas (“greetings”).
The resultant animations in the first three categories are quite amusing indeed, but the real winner for Anglophones is the sveikinimas offered by the Yankee trio: DeJuan Collins busts out a surprisingly soulful quick a cappella version of “Jingle Bells,” while Marcus Brown attempts a little Lithuanian for his longtime fans.
Enjoy and, as they say in Žalgiris’ land, “Linksmu Kaledu!”
