The Other Dream Team

Lithuania is obsessed with basketball. Like… obsessed. Not even the way Penn State is obsessed with football or recently becoming a “basketball school”. Lithuanians live and breathe basketball. It runs through their veins. At every game, no matter if its an important one or one that’s just being played for fun, there will be a huge crowd of Lithuanians dressed in yellow, green, and red, screaming their heads off and chanting our anthem.  We are a very small country of only three million, but it seems like all of us three million gather at every game. 

For Lithuania, basketball isn’t just a sport. Basketball has a way deeper meaning for us than it does for anyone in the world. Lithuania is rooted with a deep history of oppression and mistreatment. Basketball is what gave us independence. Basketball is what gave us freedom. Basketball is what gave Lithuania its name, and I’m going to tell you why just now. 

Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union for the longest time and for 50 years was forced to play for the USSR team at the Olympics. The team was composed of players from many countries occupied by the Soviet Union, but most of them were Lithuanians. At the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, the Soviet Union won the gold medal. The best player on the team, Arvydas Sabonis, a Lithuanian, got drafted to play in the NBA but couldn’t because the country was still occupied. 

Everyone knew that it was Lithuania who had truly won. We carried the team and we were the reason for the gold medal, but nobody recognized it. 

For years, Lithuania experienced horrible turmoil. Its people had to listen to the Russians and had absolutely no freedom. People couldn’t practice their religion freely or do anything. Tanks came into the city one night and killed 13 people that were protecting the Parliament from being overtaken by the Russians. My parents and grandparents all lived through this and saw it live. People were dying and nobody saw it. 

But nevertheless, Lithuania pulled itself together and declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1990. It became the first Soviet state to do so, and was the catalyst for the other countries to do so as well. During these terrible times, basketball is what kept the people united. It’s what kept hope in people’s hearts. The love and pride Lithuania had for its basketball team united everyone, and kept the people going strong until the end. 

( March 11th 1990, the day Lithuania declared independence. This year was the 30 year anniversary!!)

The 1992 Olympics was the first time Lithuania was allowed to play with its flag. It was the first time our yellow, green, and red was shown at the Olympics. They were no longer playing for the Soviet Union. They were their own independent team, just like their own independent country. 

(This is the Baltic Way, I’ll do another blogpost on it perhaps)

And guess what!? We won a bronze medal! The first time we played as Lithuania, we won! AND we beat Russia, our enemy…

This was the craziest moment in basketball history for Lithuania, and is the reason why we are all so obsessed with it. It’s not just a sport, its a symbol of independence and strength. At those 1992 Olympics, Lithuania showed who was boss all along. They persevered through the toughest times and emerged victorious. 

(This is them accepting the bronze medal)

The Grateful Dead sponsored Lithuania’s trip to the 1992 Olympics because they were greatly inspired by their story. When Lithuania stepped onto the court to accept their bronze medals, they showed up wearing the most ridiculous, tie-dye Lithuanian colored outfits that the band had given to them. Everyone else was in their official uniform, but Lithuania proudly stepped on the podium, laughing, crying, cheering, and proudly parading their country. The american dream team won gold that night, but everyone in the crowd and back at home knew that Lithuania was the true winner. They were the OTHER dream team, and they still are. 

There was a whole movie made about this. I’ll link the trailer here if anybody wants to watch it. Its AMAZING and I legit cry every time lol so plzzz take a look.