Hi there my Hivean friends and followers!
I am happy to come with a post for the Sports Talk community after a while again. This one is actually very special and emotional for me as it will be about a basketball club that I have been proudly and actively supporting for more than 25 years. The club is called BK Opava, it´s my hometown club and the reason why I am writing this post is because this club just won the Czech Basketball Cup after triumphing at the Final Four tournament last weekend.
Now you may wonder why it´s so special, it´s just a cup, right? Well, let me explain... The Czech basketball league is very specific and kind of weird. There is one team, BK Nymburk, that has been totally dominating the Czech basketball scene for almost 2 decades. Usually having a budget greater than the budgets of most of the other professional Czech basketball clubs combined, BK Nymburk has been the reigning Czech basketball champions since the 2003 - 2004 season. Let that sink in. Yes, they have won all of the last 18 titles. In the Czech Basketball Cup, they have been just as successful, winning all the cups they could. Well, until this year... ;)
The Final Four tournament started with the semifinals where BK Opava beat BK Pardubice 103:89 (sorry @bodie7 :D) and BK Nymburk destroyed Basket Brno 111:78 (sorry @ritxi :D). The great final took place the next day (Sunday, March 13) with Nymburk being a huge favorite of the game. But our boys have already managed to beat Nymburk once in the league this year and they were determined to repeat the daring feat in this match as well.
Opava took the first two quarters of the final by storm and the halftime score 57:41 was foreshadowing that a major sport sensation was being made by the fearless outsiders. Just as expected, Nymburk stepped up their game in the second half, greatly reducing the deficit but Opava managed to fight off the attack, claiming the ultimate win 97:93 after an epic performance in what was a very offensive and spectacular battle (remember that here in Europe, the quarter of a basketball match is just 10 minutes, not 12 minutes like in the NBA so 97:93 is a very high score).
https://www.facebook.com/cz.basketball/videos/2382631775212207/
So yeah, that´s how my hometown club BK Opava won the Czech Basketball Cup :) The Final Four tournament was played at a neutral field in the little Czech town of Louny. Needless to say if it was played in Opava, our basketball arena for 3,000 people would be totally full and shaking ;) But even like that, just watching the game on my laptop, it was an incredible experience and I´m so proud of our boys! The play-off stage of the national league is just around the corner now and it would be so fantastic if we could dethrone Nymburk in the league as well... We will see :)
The photos featured in this post were taken from Opavský Deník and the video of Mattias Markusson´s epic dunk is from CZ Basketball Facebook page.
Thanks for your attention Sports Talk folks. Have a great day and keep on rooting for your hometown clubs, no matter how they are doing. It´s about pride, loyalty and passion, don´t forget ;)
This post was created by me for the Hive blockchain exclusively. All rights reserved.
This is awesome. Congratulations. It must be nice to have a team that knows how to win (; LA has a couple of teams that could certainly learn from BK Opava.
Thanks man! :) Yeah, everyone loves these stories how David beats Goliath :) Or we can also call it a triumph of heart over money in this case... And it feels even better when the David is your hometown club haha :) I don´t follow the NBA much this year, how are Lakers and Clippers doing?
Exito extremo merecido!!💪💪🔥
Gracias :) Vamos Opava! :D
Super :)
It's important to do what makes us happy :)
Enjoy your days!
Namaste 🙏
@tipu curate
Upvoted 👌 (Mana: 19/39) Liquid rewards.
Wise words. Thank you for your support Iliyan! :) Cheers to Bulgaria!
Let me first say congratulations. Indeed, this is a proud moment, imagine, halting a dynasty for almost two decades is a monumental feat. Congratulations again.
Exactly, it felt like a little historical milestone :) I don´t know of any other league in the world (in any sport actually) where one team would be ruling for almost 20 years without any competition... Time to change it ;)
Congrats mate, hope your favourite team will be champions in football as well :)
Thanks buddy :) But this would be much harder :D The football club, SFC Opava, are not even playing the highest league right now :D :/
I thought Sparta or Slavia Prague :)
Booo, these are not my favorite! :D Most people in my region hate the Prague teams :D
I remember Viktoria Pilzen was once good in the Champions League.
Yeah. They are not so strong anymore but still chasing Sparta and Slavia on the top of the league table... Edit: I just checked and right now, Plzen is actually in the first spot. Wow. I didn´t even know that, I don´t follow the first league much when my club is not there :D
Congratulations man, delighted for you 👏 Sport is so rewarding and even more so when you or your team is winning.
Thank you! Well said. It feels like a great satisfaction when a team that you support for so long wins something big :) I can see you are from Ireland. What club are you a fan of over there? (in football I guess)
Great question man, so we actually have our own National sports here called Hurling and Gaelic Football. Check out the link below to see what Hurling is all about (it's a proper man's sports!) and my team is Galway.
Soccer is a funny one, my local team is Galway United, but Every Soccer fan in Ireland supports a Premier League team from England and my team is Arsenal.
Holy moly! What the heck did I just watch? :D Seriously man, I have never heard of this sport before (and I thought I was a big sport fan :D). Very ineresting, wow. Look @bodie7. Have you seen this before?
Arsenal is quite popular in my country too, especially when Tomas Rosicky was there ;)
Ya Hurling is something else, I'm a assive sports fan and hurling is my favourite sport to watch - the skill, strength and commitment is unparalleled and it's an amateur sport so the players are not paid a wage.
Ah yes Tomas Rosicky, I still have a jersey with hs name on the back, great player in his day.
Wow!
It looks like Quidditch (from Harry Potter), but on the ground :D
:D
BK Opava beats the final boss. It always feels better when the grand champion is beaten up, like david vs. goliath. Well done!
Exactly! And the triumph feels even sweeter after the Goliath has been ruining the fun for all of the other Davids in the league for almost 20 years :D
The same happens in my State soccer league with the same two teams from the capital winning.
Really? Well, at least they were two and not just one :D :/
But it's boooooooring. That's why I root for anything that goes against them \o\
Yeah. We used to have a similar situation in the highest football league too. For many years, it would always be either Sparta or Slavia who would win it. But at least they were two, not just one and it didn´t last for 20 years like with Nymburk in our basketball league :D :/
Sparta? Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarta? I wouldn't mind losing for a team that is named freaking Sparta!
It calls for a very big celebration. 18 years of dominance is really long and your team just made history.
Congratulations
Thank you very much! It does feel like a historical milestone :)
Tak gratulace teda no...! :D
Když jsem na IG viděl výsledek s Beksou po první čtvrtině, tak ve mně zažehla jistá naděje, že bych ti to mohl natřít nějakým rádoby vtipným komentářem, ale tak snad někdy příště :D
Tak dík teda no! :D
Netřeba nikomu nic natírat, proti Bekse nic nemáme ;) Respektujeme vás jako tradičně silný tým se slušnou fanouškovskou základnou. Co jsem tak viděl, tak v tom finále nám fandili i vaši fanoušci. Asi jako celá republika. Vidět konečně po těch letech Nymburk na lopatkách si už asi delší dobu přál každý český basketbalový fanda. Teda s výjimkou toho placeného nymburáckého kotlíku :D Zopakovat tenhle husarský kousek i v lize by bylo samozřejmě ještě větší pozdvižení, ale obávám se, že Nymburk nám to bude chtít v play-off všechno vrátit i s úrokama...
Jasná věc. Cokoliv naruší "nudnou" hegemonii Goliáše je ku prospěchu věci. A přiznávám, že z Opavy na mě ve sportu působí takovým tím rodinným zázemím (byť nevim jak je to ve skutečnosti).
Minimálně v tom basketu určitě ;) Dělají to v pár lidech, chudák Čouda toho má až nad hlavu. Všichni jsme chápali, že to u repre nedávno zabalil, to už se fakt nedalo stíhat...
Congrats to the team
Thanks :)
That is awesome! Congrats to the team.
I remember Nymburk playing at our regional league couple of years ago...
Yeah, they did :) Also, the Nymburk team is now coached by Aleksander Sekulić, I am sure you know this guy too ;)
Ohhh yea. I forget about that.
He is our national team coach (beside Luka) :)
Yes, I know. I remember him from the Summer Olympics last year, he did a great job coaching your national team ;)
In fact, he was very disappointed after the loss Nymburk suffered from us in the Cup. It was the first trophy of the season that he was supposed to win with Nymburk...