This weekend is that time of year where NBB Streetballin' Stars Tournament takes place on Spui. Lately, I've been talking with the peeps that organize the event, and that's how I got to know about all the cool stuff they'd have in store this year; including room for 80 teams, a full center court, Lord of the Rim, and a lot more.
The original plan was that I was joining this tournament, representing O'sko1. However, two of my teammates went to the States last minute, and I decided to not join in at all, but just go and check other people out instead. I got up kind of late, but the weather was nice, and there were quite some hours left on the event, so I packed my shit and headed to town.
It was a lot of fun: there were a lot of courts; the (full) center court looked great; there were a lot of people I know (the first hour or so I was mainly busy greeting people); and the music wasn't that soft after all (some people expressed their concerns about that to me earlier).
I did shoot some hoops myself—I even played a couple of games (two-on-two, three-on-three, and four-on-four), but I mainly hung around watching other people do their thing.
Whatever I was doing, I made sure my bag (with my sweater, some Gatorade, my keys, and my phone) was near me, and I checked up on it every few minutes. Even when I was watching the (slightly more exciting than the rest) dunk contest at the center court, my bag was only a few feet away from me, and I would throw a glance at it every few minutes.
Yet—somehow—during this very event, somebody managed to take my bag. I was utterly flabbergasted that is was gone, and checked the entire place for a series of times to check if somebody replaced it by mistake, and I informed about a dozen of people about it (including some people from the organization).
When most 'ballers had headed elsewhere; the crew was taking down most baskets, and tidying up the place up a bit; I was still shooting some hoops with a couple of guys on the center court. I then made one final round to check for my bag, and asked the head organizer one more time whether he'd seen it.
It came as no surprise to me that I came up with nothing. I was hungry, cold, thristy, and tired, but—more than anything—I was annoyed. I decided to take care of this shit before anything else: I went to the police station to report my bag stolen, which puts the number of time I've reported something stolen this month to three. (What must they be thinking at the station?)
After that, I headed home; brought the (bad) news to my mom; was brought the (good) news that Inge has gold (Yay!); ate some; called my own number to see whether it's still active (which—as it turned out—it not; meaning they can't make calls at my and my dad's cost), and dropped my dad an email about the whole thing (since he has a contract with Vodafone).
I hope I can be more positive about the second day of the event; they [the crew] deserve it.
1 comments so far.
Man, how do you do that? It sucks to have stuff stolen, but it doesn't get any better to have stuff stolen three times a month! I wish you the best, and a chain to chain everything up to yourself.
Posted by: Rob Mientjes on August 22, 2004, at 21:52