Room 379 – The Final10 Column - Part I

There is not much talk. Basically, nothing is said. Not a word, the whole drive back. When a game is lost, there is silence on the team bus. The only sound you hear is the June rain pounding the windows. The passengers are silent. Frustrated.

According to expert surveys, non-verbal communication accounts for around 90 percent of all human communication. This leaves only ten percent for verbal communication. Puffer fish and sea otters do not speak much less than the FCBB after a loss.

Experts say sports teams are special cases. They are equipped with chatterboxes. And when, after check-in, the men are waiting in their single room to be released by a negative corona test for the happy isolation life of the world's first quarantine tournament, they communicate digitally via team chat.

Team manager. "Snacks ar ready in the hallway." -

Player X.: "Where exactly is the snack?" -

Player Y: "Where's the snack!?"

Stuff like that.

The latest strain of Corona virus called SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19, makes it possible for the world to hear the verbal communication on the court at the Audi Dome. Every word can be heard -even trashtalk, an advanced form of verbal communication. It distinguishes humans from puffer fish and sea otters.  

"All you do is foul, that's all you can do." -

"Nice haircut you got!"

And so on. Good entertainment.  

"We didn't talk much," Paul Zipser said after the Bavarians lost to Ulm. Then he joined the silent group. Danilo Barthel said that as captain, he had to "talk even more now" so that the team would show up with a different attitude in the future.

The day after, through the hotel window you can see that it's still raining. But this time the chatterboxes can be heard clearly at breakfast. They are verbally over ten percent. Easily.

Room 379 of the Munich Leonardo Royal Hotel is occupied by the media director of FC Bayern Basketball during the BBL Final Tournament.