USA Basketball: The Women's Dream Team?

After a rainy couple of days at the British Open, we moved into The Palace, a hotel built in the 1800s in Manchester. A lot like Hogwarts, as my teacher aptly compared it to, our hotel room looks over the city and the rail station. But back to the sports: USA Women's Olympic Basketball

From our hotel, we walked on down to the Manchester Arena to see the game vs. Britain. With 8,000 expected viewers, the city was alive with USA spirit. As you can see below, the stadium walkway is already decked out with London 2012 flags. 

As we entered the foyer of the stadium, banners all around us promoted this game. Supposedly the two games were, especially the men's game, some of the biggest basketball games ever played in the country.

This stretched across all ticketing offices

The arena's name which the games were held at. 

In addition to seeing the game, our group organized us to welcome the USA team onto the court! So, to be able to pass through security we needed to get our accreditations to the floor.

My forehead obviously wasn't important enough...

After receiving our passes, we walked into the stadium to see these signs all over the electronic boards. It's interesting to compare and contrast the American viewpoint on these games in relation to a british citizen who rarely sees the likes of LeBron James in their lives.

Right before the team came out, we headed to the court to welcome them with high fives. I'm sure that my support was what propelled them to the obliteration of the British team.

If that's not excitement, I'm not sure what is

Diana Taurasi warming up

Leroy the Lion: Britain's mascot?

After greeting the women's team the game started, and so did our cheering. But nothing compared to the roar that the stadium had when out walked the 2012 USA Men's basketball team to sit court-side. You may be able to see some of the players here in the pictures below.

Kobe in the purple jacket

Carmelo Anthony in the white.

Tyson Chandler walking back into the locker rooms

James Harden from OKC

Overall, there wasn't much to talk about in relation to the game. Our USA team woman-handled (?) the British team. With athleticsm and a higher knowledge of the game, the British team held a lead for only around 7-8 minutes, and then fell apart. It felt as though our team just let them compete for the first 10 minutes, and then after that it was simply a blowout. Either way, the atmosphere for our group was much different than an NBA game; more intimate I would say. (I think our group may have been more excited to yell at the Men's team rather than actually watch the women play.) Looking forward to the rest of our stay in Manchester