My wife and I had the privilege of visiting Seattle earlier this year to attend the wedding of some dear friends and while most people would take the chance to squeeze as many side trips as possible, we decided to enjoy all that the city had to offer for the next 7 days¹.

The WNBA playoffs were happening and the Seattle Storm would be hosting the Las Vegas Aces in a couple days for the second game of the series, with the first being a major blowout in favor of the Aces. We bought the tickets and headed to the Climate Pledge Arena, as I wanted Leticia to have the “US sports game experience”². It was indeed a complete experience: playoff shirts, halftime show, sound bites we chant to this day³ and a thrilling comeback by the Storm to win the game and tie the series⁴! It was exhilarating, we wanted more and I promised Letícia we would watch a local game when we got back to Brazil⁵.

Fast forward a couple months and I remember plan for us to attend the match between Minas and Pinheiros⁶ for the Novo Basquete Brasil (NBB). It is walking distance from our home and the ticket price is just R$20 (~$4), half the price of watching a movie in the local cinema⁷. Surely basketball in Brazil doesn’t have the same prestige as football, but it is still the A-league and the price seemed a bargain, especially for families looking for some entertainment.

We walk up to the game and it is very tranquil: the arena can support 4400 people, but the announcer says there are ~800 in attendance and with the fans spread out and not being die-hard supporters, he has a tough time getting them to engage the chants⁸. Nevertheless some elements of amusement are there: the players are announced and enter the game amid a small pyrotechnic sequence, there are a few storm sound effects (since the team is Minas Storm⁹), a shy jumbotron and even a small band.

The game begins and it is an instant nostalgia hit, as we had relatively frequent trips to that sports club as children to play exhibition games or small tournaments. Every play a different memory comes to mind from one of the many quotes from our beloved coach at the time, Careca¹⁰:

Don’t stop dribbling if you don’t know what you’re going to do!

If you go for the layup on the left and switch to the right hand, I’ll replace you!

Box out to get the rebound!

And many more I find hard to faithfully translate to English. The game is undoubtedly not as high level as an NBA game, yet still enjoyable: instead of the flashy slam dunks, we get the fierce whole court defense¹¹. No half-time contests to win a big check, but rather a friendly guy throwing the ball to the crowd and challenging them to make the shot from the stands.

I realize it’s not a competition between which country has the best basketball, just about having a good time with who I like, so we walk back home blaming the players who made wrong calls, commenting about funny moments and talking about seeing another game in two days¹².