Basketball in Vietnam - Saigon Heat

Submitted by tomo on March 16, 2012 - 3:46am

Last night I went to my first Saigon Heat game (thanks Skunkworks!) against the Philippines Patriots (the Philippines actually have two teams in the ASEAN Basketball League). Despite being up by six in the first half, the Patriots swiftly brought nearly 20 points of defeat to Saigon, who seemed to make mistake after mistake. The Heat are Vietnam's only basketball team, have only been around since late last year, and have been trying to promote this rather unknown sport with lots of promotional tickets. There was a decent turnout that night and it really was a fun night out, despite our loss.

Saigon have two Americans on the team (including an ex-Laker, I hear) who tower over the rest of the players, as well as two Filipinos. The Philippines, with much stronger American influence, are relatively big fans of basketball whereas in Vietnam it's really all about soccer (bong da, da banh, football, whatever). But there are small numbers of Vietnamese who enjoy shooting hoops. (A few of us play irregularly on Sunday afternoons if anybody reading would like to join. Preferably, you are not too good.)

Despite regular (English language) TV programming support from the league, I think it will still take some effort for b-ball to take off in Vietnam, and Asia in general -- really, most countries outside of the U.S, although it's certainly gotten a lot more popular around the world. At the moment, it feels more like an expensive hobby for some Asians with a lot of money and a love for sport, but not enough to buy an NBA team proper. It will be a decade before Vietnamese kids who grow up watching basketball will be ready, and tall enough, to play for the Heat. Perhaps the owners of the Heat should invest in battling malnutrition among Vietnamese children - team up with Vinamilk!

Home games are at the Tan Binh Stadium. Tickets are as low as 40k and go up to 500k. Try catching an NBA game for $2 back in the states! It makes for a decent date if you're looking for date ideas. Tickets can be purchased at the stadium (18 Xuan Hong), as well as various Coffee Bean locations around town. See you there this Saturday as the Heat play the Indonesia Warriors (thanks Topica!).

January 14, 2014 - 3:15pm
#2
TwitneyLe (not verified)

Hi there!
My friends and I are visiting Vietnam next month. Where can we go to watch the Saigon Heat practice or play? Also, where can we go to play ball? Thanks so much for your help!

Top
September 30, 2012 - 5:29am
#3
bruill231 (not verified)

http://google.ca I very much enjoy your blog here, thank you so much you have helped me out greatly Smile spread the love.

Top
September 30, 2012 - 5:28am
#4
bruill231 (not verified)

http://google.ca I very much enjoy your blog here, thank you so much you have helped me out greatly Smile spread the love.

Top
September 27, 2012 - 7:06pm
#5
ObertapeScuggetle324 (not verified)

http://google.ca Actually pretty fascinating post ... lighting is so big a part of your talent, so it's most interesting to see about how it was formed

Top
September 27, 2012 - 7:05pm
#6
ObertapeScuggetle324 (not verified)

http://google.ca Actually pretty fascinating post ... lighting is so big a part of your talent, so it's most interesting to see about how it was formed

Top
May 21, 2012 - 3:13pm
#7
tomo

Hey all,

I haven't been playing very regularly lately. We used to play on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai at Truong Dinh. There's a couple of courts in that area, but we played at the courts behind the water puppet theater on Sunday afternoons around 4PM.

There's another group of foreigners that plays Saturday mornings at Phan Dinh Phung sports center on Nguyen Dinh Chieu.

But anytime you want to play you can probably find people there for a pick-up game.

Top
May 21, 2012 - 6:44am
#8
Joe (not verified)

i'll be heading to vn in september, where do u guys hoop on sundays?

Top
May 15, 2012 - 7:18pm
#9
Quan Phi (not verified)

Hi friend,
I have attend some matches of saigon heat and the atmosphere is completly great, so excited, so proud.
In a match, I catched the present (black T-shirt) however, after i have it washed, the photo on it is tear off :(
But if you want to buy one, I can tell you how to buy or I can buy it for you with free help.
Just feel free to contact me,
Quan Phi,
Skype: quan1812
Yahoo: dongquan1812
Mobile: +84 126 468 7799.
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://baongochotel.net

Top
April 17, 2012 - 9:42am
#10
Anonymous (not verified)

Does anyone know where I can buy Saigon Heat merchandise- like T-shirts etc? Do they sell them at the games?

Thanks!

Top
April 17, 2012 - 12:47am
#11
LorettaH (not verified)

It was very interesting match, although I don’t miss any his early match but this was the one which I have never experienced earlier. This is the best match and it’s a bad luck for those who miss it.

  • Digital options’ trading is usually a very thrilling and fairly new financial place for getting involved with. Irrespective of whether you might be investing binary option occasionally for fun or in the event you get it more seriously you’ll have to ensure that you are picking out the most effective digital alternatives brokers to fit your demands.
Top
© 2010-2014 Saigonist.

About the author

Asian-American expat living in Vietnam over 3 years. I am involved in tech startups and do Drupal consulting. I choose to live in Saigon and Vietnam and I want to see the city and its people reach their true potential.

Where is Saigon?

It's not wrong to wonder where in the world Saigon is.

Saigon is the name of the city now officially known as Ho Chi Minh City. But most people who call Saigon home call their home Saigon and it's mostly tourists who I hear refer to it as Ho Chi Minh City (or Ho Chi Minh Ville for the French).

After the Vietnam/American War ended in 1975, many place names ceased to exist such as Saigon, South Vietnam, and plenty of street names.

Tu Do is now Dong Khoi, Thong Nhat is Le Duan. And Tan Son Nhut Airport is now Tan Son Nhat International Airport. Rue Paul Blanchy has been Hai Ba Trung since the 1950s.

Those who haven't seen Vietnam for decades will be confused not just by the geographical changes but the incredible amount of development and modernization that has since taken place.

Latest Technical Posts

I also post a lot of technical material unrelated to Vietnam that doesn't hit the home page. Starting from November 2015 I am only posting technical articles on my new sub-blog: TECH.saigonist.com

  • Definition of Startup: What isn't a startup? : What is a startup? We're in the middle of a tech boom and it's become fashionable to either work for a startup or to be a startup. But what is a startup? How do you know that company offering you a...
  • My Startup Experiences : I've been involved in start ups for over a decade now. During that time I've worked for companies in varying stage of development. Not all of them were startups. But how can you tell if it is or not...
  • Code Retreat 2012 - Ho Chi Minh City : $(document).ready(function(){ $('.geshifilter').hover(function(){console.log(this);console.log($(this));$(this).css('position', 'relative').css('width', '800px').css('z-index', 1000);}, function...
  • Internet Censorship in Southeast Asian Countries (Myanmar, China, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam) : Vietnam has been labeled an "enemy of the Internet" by Reporters Without Borders. There have been a lot of cases of bloggers being targeted, harrassed, and arrested. But RSF (Reporters Sans...
  • Using 3G Internet in Cambodia : On my most recent trip to Cambodia I bought a Cambodian SIM card so that I could both make calls and use the Internet on my smartphone. At the Moc Bai/Bavet border are a number of Khmer people (who...
  • MailChimp vs poMMo, Mailman, Phplist - Self-Host or Outsource Your Mailing List? : Use your own mail server or outsource it? Let's say you have a rather large mailing list of a few thousand email addresses and, well, sending it out with GMail is no longer cutting it. What are your...
  • Internet in Vietnam - Good, Bad, Ugly : If you ask Vietnamese officials, you'll hear such hyperbole as "the Internet service development in Vietnam is in no way inferior to developed countries in the world" (Mai Liem Truc, former Deputy...
  • poMMo proBLEMs : poMMo is free open source mailing list management software. It's written in PHP and pretty basic but does give a decent management interface. However, it's no longer maintained. There is a GitHub...
  • Preventing Repetitive Stress Injuries for Programmers and Writers : My situation I'm a career programmer who has suffered from pain in my hands and arms for several years. Like carpal tunnel syndrome, this pain is from damage to tissue (including tendons) caused by...
  • Calling the US for free from foreign countries : Calling US numbers from the US is pretty trivial and nearly free. But calling from another country means either: - paying for long distance from your telephone company - using a phone card to call...

Recent activity in the expat forum...