Okay, so I decided to really dive into the Virtus Bologna vs FC Bayern Munich basketball game the other night. Not just watch it, but actually track the player stats myself. I find doing this sometimes gives you a different feel for the game, you notice things you might otherwise miss.
Getting Set Up
First things first, I made sure the broadcast was sorted. Got the stream up on my main screen. Then, I grabbed my trusty old notebook and a pen. Yeah, I know, pretty old school, right? Some folks use spreadsheets or apps, but I just like scribbling it down, feels more immediate. I drew up some quick columns for each team, listing the players I expected to get minutes. Had sections for basic stuff: points, rebounds (offensive and defensive separately if I could catch it), assists, maybe steals and blocks if I was feeling ambitious.
Tracking During the Game
Alright, game on. As soon as things tipped off, I started watching closely. When a player scored, I put a mark or the point value next to their name. Rebounds were tougher, especially under the basket with bodies flying everywhere. I did my best to catch who grabbed the board. Assists, okay, that requires watching the pass right before the basket. Sometimes it’s obvious, sometimes less so. I just made my best guess based on what I saw.
It got pretty hectic, especially in transitions. Fast breaks meant quick points, and sometimes I’d barely finish noting one play before the next happened. Substitutions also threw me off a bit. Had to quickly find the new player on my sheet, or add them if they weren’t on my initial list. My notes definitely weren’t the neatest, lots of scribbles and quick tallies.
Key things I tried focusing on:
- Points (2-pointers, 3-pointers, free throws)
- Rebounds (Trying to split offensive/defensive)
- Assists
- Turnovers (These were sometimes easier to spot)
Dealing with the Chaos
Honestly, keeping up perfectly is almost impossible doing it manually like this, especially for a whole game. There were moments, maybe after a timeout or during free throws, where I quickly tried to catch up or make my notes a bit clearer. Sometimes I’d miss who got a rebound in a scrum, or question if a pass really counted as an assist. You just gotta make a call and move on, otherwise you’ll miss the next three plays. It wasn’t about perfect accuracy down to the last digit, more about getting a general sense of who was doing what.
After the Final Buzzer
Once the game ended, I took a few minutes to look over my messy pages. I started tallying up the marks for each player. Added up the points, the rebounds, the assists. It took a little while to decipher my own handwriting and make sure I counted the tally marks correctly. I didn’t compare them against official stats or anything, this was more just my own personal record of the game, seen through the lens of player contributions.
It was a pretty fun exercise, though! Makes you appreciate the work official statisticians do. And like I said, you definitely watch the game with a different level of attention when you’re actively tracking something. Gives you a good feel for which players really impacted the game beyond just the final score.
