“When good Americans die, they go to Paris” – Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891
Many people think of food, fashion, and yes, football (soccer) when they think of France and associate a weekend in Paris with glamor, gossamer dreams, and macaroons. Others think of the “new Paris” that features La FrenchTech and Parisian-style hipsters along the Canal St. Martin in the 10ème. For over a century, all “good Americans” have had their own versions of the City of Light, but “my Paris” has long been sports-centric. Given the building anticipation of the NBA’s January 2020 match in the French capital, a quick 48-hours en ville by basketball illustrates different aspects of the city that you likely never thought of.
Friday Afternoon Arrival
There’s several basketball courts nestled into small spare public spaces throughout the city, even on the Left Bank. You can often find teenagers, boys and girls, playing in the cages under the Ligne 6 métro between Dupleix and Bir Hakim. Just further north, on any given day there’s action on the courts in the shadows of the Tour Eiffel.
Saturday in the 19ème
The courts underneath the Stalingrad métro are some of the more iconic ones in the tales of street basketball. Inaugurated shortly after the 1992 USA Olympic Dream Team ignited a streetball phenomenon in France, the Stalingrad courts were recently renovated and feature as a key terrain for kids of the All Parisian Games, a nonprofit that engages boys and girls of the 19ème—one of the city’s most diverse neighborhoods—through basketball. I spent the afternoon with the organization’s cofounders, Paul and Bakary, swapping notes on basketball, the NBA, and the intersections of Franco-American culture on and off the court.
Sunday in Levallois
I had the good fortune to attend the recent Boulogne-Métropolitans vs Limoges basketball game to get a taste of what pro ball in the country’s top division, JeepElite, is like these days. The match was well-attended with around 80% capacity in the 4,000-seat Palais des sports Marcel-Cerdan in the western suburb of Levallois; the 4pm tipoff time likely helped as it was in between the day’s premier football matches. The only other pro match I’ve attended in France was two years ago, when I saw former NBA champion and Team France captain Boris Diaw play with the Métropolitans on a Friday evening with sparse crowds. This time, things were different; not only was Diaw there in his new capacity as team president, but the crowd was downright boisterous (by French standards) thanks in large part to the ultras from Limoges.
Moreover, it was a tightly contested game. Tied at the end of regulation time, overtime continued the closely fought match, with the hometown team sneaking away with a 2-point win in the game’s dying seconds. Tough finish for Limoges, but well done both sides. Plus a shout out to BasketEurope for scouting me in the crowd!
The next time you trip through the City of Light, consider an off-the-tourist-track stop to explore the local sports culture. Bon week-end!