A Visit to Cairns – Part 3 - Local Entertainment

On a Sunday afternoon my host and I were invited to an NBL (basketball) game at the 'clamshell' Cairns Entertainment Centre between the Cairns Taipans and the Woollongong Hawks (apparently the competition leaders). We had free tickets in the corporate area two rows from the front courtesy of his partner's health profession contacts. The Taipans won (76 to 66) and although the on-court action was fast and desperate, I was graphically reminded of why I stopped going to the basketball many years ago due to all the American 'hoopla' - loud music, cheerleaders and partisan antics. It was easy to see how it would be difficult to win an 'away game' in such a regional location with an almost totally one-sided crowd. There was one aspect that particularly troubled me - the Taipan's mascot (replete with a plastic Taipan head) kept marching up and down the sidelines with a double-barrelled shotgun, and at one stage "shooting" at a young boy dressed in a hawk costume. This was hardly very 'politically correct', and even though I assume it was a dummy gun, it nevertheless made me uneasy having it waved around with such gay abandon. Perhaps a case of "only in far North Queensland ..."!