There are indeed so many things to do in Singapore! We found out recently that one of the exciting things to do in Singapore is actually to catch a match of the Singapore Slingers at the National Indoor Stadium!
We reached the National Stadium early and caught a glimpse of the cheer leading team practicing their dance moves. Besides performing to the tunes of Jay Chou, they also did a rendition of Gangnam Style.
Cheer Leaders of the Slingers practicing before the match
This time, we caught the match between the Singapore Slingers and the Saigon Heat. The ticket prices range from 8 to 18 dollars but there are various discounts for students, SAFRA cards and so on.
Players of the Saigon Heat arrived earlier and hit the courts to get some warm up.
Saigon Heat players warming up
Speaking of warm ups, take a look at this video that shows the teams warming up just before the match.
As it was the first time that we watched a basketball match “live”, Kate and I were pleasantly surprised to see that they do introduce the players one by one just like the NBA!
Introducing players of Singapore Slingers before the start of the match
Jeffers and Dulay caught our eyes. Well, mainly because one is the tallest and the other the shortest. We were wondering why Dulay is in the team, since he is really short in comparison to the rest of the team. Then we realised that he’s REALLY FAST and he was in the starting 5!
The match started with the Slingers off the blocks first. However, Saigon quickly closed the gap.
Singapore Slingers in Red (Dark Pink) in the Cancer Awareness Game in support of World Cancer Day 2013
Slingers actually pulled as far as 20 points ahead in the 3rd Quarter. However, Saigon pulled back to 4 points with 2.5 minutes to go! We were quite shocked that such a big lead could be decimated in such a short time! However, the Slingers composed themselves and finally won the game 80 to 69! Congrats Slingers!
Singapore Slingers strategising with Head Coach
There are a few interesting observations from the Singapore Slingers match
1. Unlike NBA, where the commercials come in when the teams calls for “time out”, the ASEAN basketball league games goes for “media time-outs” when the TV goes for commercial breaks!
2. Wei Long, a great game you’ve played! This Singaporean netted 5 out of 8 three-pointers and made the crowd go wild!
3. The commentator not only has to comment on the match, he actually changes the music for the game as well! There are 2 different music for the Slingers when they attack and when they defend much akin to NBA matches
Hear the background music of this clip showing the last 15 seconds of the first half!
4. The drinks and snacks are REALLY EXPENSIVE! $10 for a can of Carlsberg beer and $4 for a packet of potato chips!
5. Although the stadium was not full, the atmosphere was still really great! Quite shiok to see spectators shouting at the referees from the sidelines :p
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Do check out the Singapore Slingers Basketball match some time! It is definitely one of the top unknown things to do in Singapore!