I saw hunks and babes last night.

In the most unlikely of places you could ever find me.

I was at a pro-basketball match at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Yep. I, who yawn at the sports section in the papers and develop an allergic reaction every time someone surfs to a sports channel on TV, watched a live basketball match.

To me, sports is meant to be played, not watched, so I could never be a sports groupie, if there’s such a term.

But I was one last night. A basketball groupie, that is.

It’s all Nicholas’ fault. He invited me to an NBL game to watch home team Singapore Slingers slug it out with the fiersome Melbourne Tigers.

I accepted his invitation because I’ve never watched a live basketball match and, as much as I feel that sports spectating is a stupid activity, I believe that it’s important to try different things in life whenever you get the chance to.

As a matter of fact, I have attended one Aussie Rules (Australian football) game in Melbourne and one baseball game in California. Both were surprisingly enjoyable. So, I guess it’s just as well I have a basketball game to add to my collection.

The Slingers management hosted us in a corporate box, which put us nearer to the action and allowed us to ogle the hunks and babes more effectively.

When I stepped into the stadium, the two teams were warming up on the court. I wanted to support the Melbourne Tigers because the members looked taller and more aggressive. And they also happened to be leading this seaon’s NBL Championship with no losses to date. And also because I used to study at Melbourne, so I feel a kind of affinity for that place.

But I decided that it’s better to be patriotic and support the Singapore team, never mind that they’re currently placed second to last in the league and that there are, in fact, only two actual Singaporeans on the team.

Well, and it’s only polite to support the team which management is hosting you in a $25,000 corporate box.

So, I quickly found myself a favourite Slinger to root for.

Number one Rod Grizzard has a funky hairdo and a cool goatee and he’s like a little over 2m tall. Gosh.

(His profile picture from the Slingers’ website.)

I know nuts about basketball, but I liked the way he kept plucking the ball right out of the enemy’s grasp and robbing them of the chance to score. He was also, of course, one of the top scorers for the night.

Having a favourite made it very easy to enjoy the game.

There were tons of breaks during the game, which was when the Slinger Girls got to show off their stuff.

Haha. They look like they’re about to strip their tops off.

Whenever the game was in progress, they sat or stood by the side, ocassionally yelling cheers.

I didn’t quite get the level of energy I expected from them, though. I had the impression that they were just doing a job and weren’t really into the game or the basketballers.

But what’s nice was the audience participation. They fished this bloke randomly out of the audience to shoot some hoops.

He was given a few tries at different distances from the hoop. He got two in and I think he won $60 or $80. Cool!

After half time, the girls changed into cuter outfits and did more dancey stuff.

The Tigers suffered a casualty early in the game.

But that didn’t stop them from winning.

I think most people expected the Tigers to win, anyway, since they hadn’t lost a single match this season, and the Slingers are a pretty new team and still getting their feet wet in the NBL.

But it was a really close match. In the last quarter, the Slingers managed to close up the gap quite substantially and actually looked like they had a chance to win.

Too bad they didn’t.

The final score was Slingers 96 to Tigers 105. The Slingers put up a really good fight!! Yay for the Singapore team which consists of only two Singaporeans, neither of whom played last night’s game! *lol*

After the match, the Slingers hung around at the court for autographs and photographs.

Grizzard was mobbed by kids!

So I took pictures with some of the other basketballers. I mean, they were pretty cool, too. Just that I can only have one favourite, you understand.

They’re really tall. I look so short beside them. And I was wearing my super chunky platform boots.

Boots that, incidentally, got me banned from the court halfway through my groupie activities.

“Excuse me, miss. Your shoes are a little hard and might damage the court, so would you mind stepping out and not walking on the court?”

What the heow lah. Morons. My boots are light lor.

Anyway, I stuck around the sides and brooded until Nicholas, bless him, brought Grizzard over to take a group photo.

Whee!

Second last photo. Me with Daphnemaia and Princess Sabrina!

On the whole, it was enjoyable. I actually wouldn’t mind catching another match. And maybe even hanging out with the Slingers at Brewerkz afterwards.

The Slingers hang out at Brewerkz Indoor Stadium after each home match and fans are invited to kinda hang out with them there. I don’t know what it’s like since I had to rush home after the game last night, but I’m sure it’ll be pretty cool.

The NBL Championship is on till February of next year and there will be 10 more matches played in Singapore, at the Indoor Stadium.

Tickets are available through Sistic if you’re interested.

Go, Slingers! I hope they win more games and stop staying at the bottom of the ladder! I could see they gave their best shot last night so I think they deserve to get a better result!

See lah. Stupid Nicholas made a basketball groupie out of me.

(This photo was taken by Precious. I stole it from her Facebook photo album. Hehe!)

Oh yeah, check out themediaslut for great photos of the match and of the bloggers who attended the match!

Sorry, my photos CMI one. Haha.