Okay, so basketball is not a real popular sport in Prague. Folks here are more likely to attend a hockey game or cheer for their football team (football = soccer).  But, there are many good reasons to attend a professional basketball game in Prague, including the price -- an easy-to-come-up-with 40 czk (roughly $1.65).  Another good reason is that you can get a terrific seat, because you'll be one of very few fans in attendance.

I've been to see the BC Sparta team (a Division I team in the Czech Basketball Federation) several times, now. There's another team here in town, but I found Sparta first so they're my newly-adopted favorites.  Here they are warming up to take on the team from Sadska and taking the court as they're introduced.

I like this action shot of the game, which they won handily at 104-77.  Everyone is charging down the floor except one of our players there at the left (Pavel Frana) who appears to be out for an afternoon stroll.  Actually, Frana is quite good, although it does seem funny to see a bearded basketball player these days.

Some other differences ... if you look closely at the photos you can see that the lane isn't rectangular, it's sort of keystone-shaped. This is the original shape of the free-throw area, and the US changed to the rectangle some time ago, but I now understand where the phrase "top of the key" comes from.  Also, the teams play four 10-minute quarters, with a 2-minute break between the first and second, and the third and fourth quarters, and a 15-minute half-time break. The shot clock is only 24 seconds (unlike the NCAA's 35 seconds) so things move right along. The refs signal fouls in much the same way, at least the ones I've recognized. There may have been one in there citing a player for a stupid haircut, but I wasn't sure about that one.

A few differences are related to fan behavior, including that when the song "YMCA" was played during a time-out, no one got up and did the dance, spelling out the letters.  (No, I didn't, either. Maybe at the next game I'll conduct a workshop on this.)  Also, no one chanted "a-i-r-b-a-l-l when a shot missed completely, which made it impossible for me to test the theory that fans tend to chant this in the same key from game to game and arena to arena. (See this site http://www.s-t.com/daily/09-95/09-13-95/0913airball.HTML for more on this interesting phenomenon.) Finally, only in the Czech Republic would you see people take their dogs to a basketball game. I love this place!

Oh, and I simply had to add this... If you get hungry during the game, as you leave the gym there is a sign guiding you to (what else?) McDonald's.  However, I laughed out loud when I saw just how precise they were (is it 399 meters to the drive-up window or to the door?) and the route they have conveniently included.