THE SPORTS DIVA MAGAZINE: Norway - A Kinder, Gentler NBA

by Carolyn Hastings
AND ONE

Basketliga 2000, the initiative behind what is now the Basketball League of Norway (BLNO), the first semi-professional basketball league in the Kingdom, encountered trouble before ever opening their doors. The first sign of trouble surfaced in a poll conducted in August of 1999; sixty percent of “young people” professed to watching soccer instead of basketball:

"Except for the standard margin of errors, the findings are clear: Soccer is the most popular sport young people like to watch on TV or read about in the papers," researchers Lars Brodestedt Svendsen and Vegard Arntsen told Aftenposten [Norwegian newspaper].

An uphill cultural battle, for sure, but not a deal breaker. Six months later, and 9 months prior to the projected inaugural game, Thorvald Stoltenberg, former foreign minister and current ambassador to Denmark, criticized the prenatal league harshly after hearing Centrum, a team that includes members from almost 40 nations, was excluded from the newly-formed league:

It goes against the soul of athletics as a whole if the new Basketliga 2000 doesn't include the cultural diverse team Centrum . . .

TV 2, Norway's largest commercial television station, and architect of Basketliga 2000, did not have souls and spirituality in mind when constructing the league:

In what they call an attempt to resurrect a "lost" sport, TV 2 is introducing a brand new basketball league, hoping to trigger an NBA effect in Norway.

Basketball has never attracted big audiences in Norway, but with commercial aid and extensive TV coverage, TV 2 is seeking to change all that.

The model is the crowd-pleasing basket league in the U.S., NBA.

"We are trying to deliver a league filled with drama, action and entertainment, which we are proud to call self-made," leader of Basketliga 2000, Aage Damsgaard, told the newspaper Aftenposten.

With the aid of scenery, effects and ornaments, TV 2 hopes the basket league will spark a new success in Norwegian sports (Source: Norway Post)

August of 2000, two months and counting, found Basketliga 2000 in financial trouble with only one out of eight teams fulfilling the league’s economic requirements. Bergen-based Ulriken Eagles had its financial package in order, while the remaining seven teams struggled to find sponsors.

The Basketliga committee decided to fund each club with 75,000 kroner in case game attendance failed to meet expectations.

October lurches into view and in a spectacular show amid media-frenzy, the Basketliga 2000 kicks off:

"It´s a dream come true for Norwegian basketball," said Aage Damsgaard, leader of Basketliga 2000.

The league, organized by TV 2 and Norway´s Basketball Association (NBA), held their first game in front of more than 4,000 spectators in Oslo’s Spektrum.

"We are all united with one purpose: To increase the quality of Norwegian basketball and heighten people´s interest in this wonderful sport," Damsgaard said.

Consisting of eight teams (Ulriken Eagles, Oslo Kings, Asker Aliens, Baerums Verk Bees, Kongsberg Penguins, KB Pirates, Harstad Vikings and Tromsoe Storm), the league was an immediate hit, increasing per game spectators by 88% with extensive TV coverage.

For the entire first season, TV 2 ran a Sunday program with game clips, news, standings and BLNO player profiles.

In the spring of 2001, the BLNO was increased to 10 teams, by 2003 the count was once again 8; during the 2004-2005 season, the Norwegian Basketball Federation took over league administration as several teams struggled financially.

At the start of the 2005-2006 season, two teams withdrew from the BLNO, changing the number once again, this time to only 6. According to the Web site Korshavn , a labor of love dedicated to documenting the history of and renewing faith in the BLNO, at this point individual teams and the league basically start over, wooing sponsors and fans alike.

Heading into the 2006-2007 season, 1st division teams Fjellhamar Stallions and 3B (Bærums Verk) join the league, bringing it back to a more comfortable group of 8.

Introduced by US Mormons in the early 1950’s, basketball caught the fancy of more than a few Scandinavians. Basketball has since grown in Norway from a strictly university-based sport to a nationwide activity.

The amateur Norwegian Basketball Association was founded in 1968, lists approximately 13,000 players and proudly claims basketball as the most diverse team sport in Norway.

Torgeir Bryn, after one season of college basketball at Southwest Texas State, where he averaged 16.8 points and 9.0 rebounds, accepted an offer from the LA Clippers to become the first (and still only) Norwegian to play in the U.S. NBA. Torgeir later played professionally for a number of European clubs, notably the Norwegian clubs Ammerud, Oslo Kings and Harstad Vikings.

Torgeir’s stint with the LA Clippers, limited to ten minutes over three matches, is remarkable for the milestone it represents. No longer a foreign concept, young Norwegians dream of the U.S. and the NBA; in return, several Americans live and play in Norway.

Dimitri Hodgkinson, California-born head coach and trainer, now part of Team Concept Basketball, played for the Oslo Kings alongside Torgeir, David Evans and Kelvin Woods. A collision with another player led to an injury that sidelined Hodgkinson for much of 2001-2002; he joined the Kings for a short stint late in the season. The following year, Hodgkinson played for a Norwegian 1st Division team, Persbraten (Braten) Basketball Klubb (PBBK) and never ever forgot his experiences.

I’ll always have a special place in my heart for Norway and the many great friends I made there.

Playing for the Kings and Persbraten helped me realize a dream; coaching the Junior Women at Persbraten helped me recognize that I really enjoy teaching the game and working with young players, and winning a 1st Division Championship with a great group of guys from nine different nations (Norway, United States, France, Poland, Burundi, Morocco, Mexico, Uruguay, Australia) helped me realize that basketball is a universal language that can bring people together and help us develop relationships that are even more meaningful than any successes achieved while tossing a ball through a hoop.

Norway 91, Oregon 90. There’s a head turner. All because Chris Fahbrach sank a 12-footer with five seconds left in the game. A game with a decidedly international feel, played in Eugene, Oregon, during the Norwegian Basketball Association’s 1986 US tour. 6-foot-7 Norway center Haakon “The Hawk” Austefjord, a former Utah State player, scored 31 points to lead all players. Center Sven Meyer, a West German who transferred to Oregon from North Idaho College, scored 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds in his first game for the Ducks. (Source: The Associated Press, November 14, 1986)

When Knut Spange, Vaalerenga Basket manager contacted Magic Johnson in May of 2001 and asked him to join their club, thousands of people in Norway sighed and remembered November of 1994. Magic visited with an “American star team” and a record 7,253 people watched Norway slide further and further into defeat at the Oslo Spektrum, the score a whopping 158-106 when the final buzzer sounded.

[Mental Editor’s note: check if Norway uses buzzers or those crazy Ricola horns.] I get the feeling this is a good memory; no bitter tears. Sheer amazement at skill sets you never even dreamed of dreaming about:

If Magic accepts the offer, Knut intends to rename the team “Magic.” If Magic accepts the offer, I’ll change my name to Vaalerenga Austefjord Loennebotn.

If Knute is serious about attracting NBA stars, I would keep this recipe hidden in the cow shed:

How to make your own Lutefisk

A lutefisk lover is likely to consume at least a kilo of lutefisk, which means you should allow a minimum of 125 grams of stockfish per person.

"Luting" (adding the lye)

Make a solution of water and caustic soda (NaOH) using 50 grams of soda per 7 litres of water. The soaked fish should be left in the soda solution for about 24 hours. Subsequently, it should be watered down, preferably in running water, for approximately 48 hours. Then the fish is ready to be cooked or frozen.

Serve the freshly cooked lutefisk together with potatoes, pease pudding and melted fat from pork ribs or bacon, or melted butter. Some people also enjoy it with mustard and goat cheese. (source: Norway Post)

Jeremy VanKlompenburg, former Southwest Minnesota State University (SMSU) basketball player, couldn't believe where he was headed , or so he told the Marshall Independent reporter who caught up with him on his way to the airport. I’m guessing he was about to not believe what he was going to eat when he got there, but that’s another story. Uffda.

”This is kind of crazy because it came out of the blue,” he said. “I got an e-mail from a sportswriter in Germany saying he had talked to (SMSU head coach Greg) Stemen and was wondering if I wanted to play over there.

“There” represented several opportunities; the best fit for everyone turned out to be Asker, Norway, about 10 miles from Oslo. The Asker Aliens, short on big men, are excited by the 6’9” VanKlompenburg; Jeremy says overseas coaches crave what he’s good at - hitting the three, or pump faking and taking a jump shot.

And that is how Jeremy found himself, in steamy August of 2007, five credits short of a college degree, heading toward an international airport. Jeremy’s excitement equaled the charge emanating from the fjords.

[This is] a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

(Asker Aliens - We Play Out of This World)

Asker Aliens is considered one of the "old" Norway clubs with a long tradition of playing at the national level. As of the 2006-2007 season, they play in Vollenhallen, a 1,000-seat arena not far from Asker and a 20 minute drive south of Oslo.

BLNO Champions in March, 2002, 2003 and 2005, Coach Baard Stoller and his diverse crew are doing something right.

EuroBasket lists 24 “import players” from the US currently on Norwegian rosters, including Jeremy who, having told his family he would be “gone until mid-March,” still helps his Aliens play “out of this world” basketball. Maybe there’s something to that Lutefisk

Information on Norwegian basketball is scarce and, unfortunately, most of the Web sites in Norway are in Norwegian. What’s up with that?

BLNO offers several pages in English:

EuroBasket also offers English pages; however, only certain information is available at no charge.

If you’re brave, visit the all-Norwegian Asker Aliens site:

The Norway Post is online in English

So is the AftenPosten

Official site of Norwegian Referees in English