They've Got Game -- and Tapas, Too

I f you ask me, it's an unbeatable combination: basketball as it once was, and Europe as . . . it has always been. In January, I spent a week in Bologna, which is known in Italy as "Basket City" because of its fans' zeal for the two pro teams. The games were exciting and intense, the atmosphere festive. Afterward, I'd go to a restaurant in that venerable city, dotted with porticos dating back hundreds of years, and tuck into a plate of freshly made tortellini in a delicate cream sauce, accompanied by a crisp local Pinot Grigio. And you'd rather have a Baconator and chocolate Frosty from Wendy's on the way home from the Wizards game?

For this longtime basketball fan, it's vive la difference. Late Tuesday night, I shared a taxi back to the hotel with three Greek fans who were still chanting and singing after their team's victory over Serbia. Their faces were painted blue, so they looked like talking Greek flags. An amiable fellow named Nikos, a printer from Athens, told me that they were part of a group of 18 Greeks who'd made the trek to Spain. This was his fifth Eurobasket, he said proudly.

I told them I was blown away by the Greek fans' exuberance and their passion for the sport and their team. "But of course!" Nikos said expansively. "That is the only way to watch basketball."

He and the others invited me to join them in the stands for Wednesday night's game against Russia. I was flattered but demurred, saying I didn't know any Greek. They insisted it didn't matter. "Well," I finally said, "I could just go, 'Hel-las, Hel-las.' "

Nikos Blue-Face beamed and put a hand on my shoulder. "I will save you a place," he said.

warrent@washpost.com

Tim Warren, a copy editor on The Post's national desk, is covering Eurobasket for the paper.