As I am still in Riga to cover the U20 European Championships and as I wanted however to follow the Olympic Games, I was looking around to see if some bars or pubs are showing the games. And this was not that easy.
My friend from Lithuania told me that I should come to a Sports bar in the City center that will show the game of their local favorites against the Gauchos from Argentina. So I speeded up to arrive in time at the place but what a disapointment. The different TV stations preferred to cover the Women Road Cycling race or some Boxing match.
However, the presence of the Lithuanian cyclists in the race made the people cheer every time when they appeared on the screen. Lie-Tu-Va Lie-Tu-Va. The tone was set. The fans got updated on the score of the game by phone or SMS and every time they said the score, the cheering was getting louder. The women’s race came to an end and the game was at halftime. 34-30.
After some publicity, the TV station switched to the Olympic Basketball arena and the place went crazy. It was clear now that the fans could follow the 2nd half of Jasikevicius, Siskauskas, Kleiza and the others. And it looked like the players felt that all their fans are now watching as they directly played a lot better and increased their lead. However, Argentina came back into the game with some Ginobili three pointers. But the last play of the game and the Linas Kleiza three pointer made the fans go nuts and ready for tonight’s U20 Final.
