Tan’s in Việt Nam!

Currently in Vietnam, only one TV program dominates the vast majority of television sets nationwide: the SEA Games 23, held in the Philippines. SEA, of course, stands for SouthEast Asia. It’s the largest, most anticipated sporting event in this region of the world, held annually. They play stuff like basketball, archery, taekwondo, gymnastics, rowing, even chess. It’s a sort of mini-Summer Olympics, plus chess.

Oh, and just in case anyone doesn’t know, there is also soccer. When it comes to sports in Southeast Asia, soccer is a given. You don’t question whether or not soccer is being played here. You question when it is being played, and then you make sure you watch it. When it is on, you can walk down any given street in Vietnam, and it is silent. When Vietnam scores, the entire street erupts in cheers. A week ago, Vietnam destroyed Laos 8-2. There was a lot of cheering. Apparently when I was in Sapa, Hanoi broke out in a small riot due to a soccer game. Some of the EAP people witnessed it. People threw down barricades and beer cans, forcing police to come out with batons. I checked the scores: Vietnam lost to Indonesia 0-1.

With that final elimination could very well mean the end of the interest in SEA games in general. Gerard, the EAP director, said that was what happened last year, when the games were held in Saigon. At this point, it is interesting to note that the soccer team that lost was the men’s team. Yesterday, the women’s soccer team extracted revenge with a 8-0 route of Indonesia. They’re in the finals! But not too many people care about the women’s team.

In an attempt to postpone the papers I need to write before this semester is finished (in about 2 weeks), I started to watch some women’s volleyball- Vietnam vs. Philippines. They play best of 5 sets. It was a fun game, involving lots of screaming from my part. The Philippines started the match with an emphatic 25-13 stomping in the first set. My guess is they had home court advantage. Vietnam clawed back with a 25-17 win in the second set. The crucial third set looked daunting for Vietnam. They were behind 15-20. The coffee shop owner I was with said it was over, but he dared not change the channel. That is a capital crime. By the time I finished my coffee, Vietnam miraculously leveled the set at 20-20, only to fall behind again at 20-22. But was it truly over? Absolutely not. Vietnam stormed back and wrested a 25-22 3rd set victory from the Philippines. A disheartened Philippines never threatened Vietnam again, and Vietnam sealed the match with an easy 25-21 victory in the 4th set. Oh. The. Drama.

Watching sports always brings a vague sort of nostalgia in me. I haven’t truly played competitive sport on a consistent basis since my varsity tennis days back in high school. They include some of my most cherished moments. There is just something about grinding away, day after day, in monotonous practice and physical conditioning, just so you can have that one chance on Game Day to achieve something spectacular, something defining. The appeal of sport never lay in the victory, but in the challenges you needed to overcome to get that victory.

There was one game where Alex Williams and I were down 2-5 in a single set game against Santa Margarita’s best doubles team. During the changeover, we gave each other a look that said we were not going to lose without making them work very hard for it. We went on to win 7-6 (7-5 in the tie breaker). All the drills, all the conditioning, all the practices were all preparation for that one moment during the changeover. It was our defining moment, the one instant where players become champions. Our high school ultimately lost to Santa Margarita, but I did not feel like a loser that day.

Such defining moments are harder for me to pinpoint outside of the realm of sport. Usually, we grind our way through day-to-day life never truly feeling like anything has changed. Then we take a breather and realize we’re no longer in elementary school, but getting ready to wrap up college. Somehow we change, and yet we miss that defining point. For the first time in my life, random (young) people in Vietnam are starting to call me Chu, which basically means Uncle. But do I really feel like an adult? Not really. I suspect that one day I will wake up and suddenly realize that I am a 30 year old adult with adult responsibilities. And I’m going to have no idea how I transitioned from goofy college kid to undisputed ruler of the universe.

I think we all live for those defining moments, those times where we demonstrate that we’re made of something, that we mean something, that we are capable of something great. And in sport, it’s easy to see when that occurs. The iconic Brandi Chastain tearing off her soccer jersey after the winning penalty kick at the 1996 Summer Olympics, USA’s semi-final victory over USSR in ice hockey during the 1980 Winter Olympics, the 3-point buzzer beater by Robert Horry in Game 4 of the 2003 Western Conference Finals- they’re all great moments that we all secretly wish we could achieve. But they are all moments quantifiable by numbers, whether it is the clock, the scoreboard, or some other stat. Achievements in real life are not so easily quantified into a single moment.

Women’s volleyball is now on. Ironically enough, it is Vietnam vs. Indonesia. The first set was certainly up for grabs, but Vietnam narrowly secured victory. I think Indonesia quickly gave up. Vietnam won the 2nd set, and they are now on their way to finishing the match at 20-11 in the 3rd set. I like watching Vietnam’s #5 and #7. They’re both kinda cute, and they got this vicious spike. I like that sort of combination.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 1st, 2005 at 1:57 pm and is filed under Super Xanga. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.