Lithuania

## Eulogy 1

*By Cam Cain*

Lithuania is a country on the Baltic Sea in Europe

It declared independence from Russia following World War I before being re-annexed as a part of the Soviet Union in 1945

It was the first country in the region to declare independence again in 1990

It has since become one of the most well-developed countries in the world

The most popular sport is basketball, with notable players including Jonas Valančiūnas, Arvydas Sabonas, and Žydrūnas Ilgauskas

## Eulogy 2

*By Gregory Severin*

Lithuania, or Diet Poland as I like to call it, is a Baltic state nestled on top of Poland and Belarus. It is also east of Russia, which sounds weird. Thanks, Kaliningrad

It's pretty small now, but believe it or not it used to be the biggest country in Europe. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania stretched all the way to the Black Sea in the 1400s, including much of modern-day Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine in its borders

When the Grand Duke of Lithuania married the King of Poland (yes you read that right, Jadwiga of Poland was a woman who was nonetheless crowned king), they created the POLISH-LITHUANIAN COMMONWEALTH, notable for its ethnic diversity, religious tolerance, and for being a monarchy that still had a system of checks and balances. Sounds pretty neat, right? Well its neighbors didn't think so, and so Austria, Russia, and Prussia decided to partition it out of existence in the late 18th century

Since becoming independent from Russia for the second time (don't think I forgot about you, World War I), Lithuania has become a pretty cool place to live. The Vilnius tourism board isn't helping promote that image, though, instead choosing to market the Lithuanian capital as, I shit you not, "The G-spot of Europe." What could possibly have inspired them to create this slogan? Well you see, once you find it, it's amazing :bsd:

Outside of its weirdly horny tourism campaign, Lithuania is known for your typical Baltic stuff: picturesque old towns with tons of Baroque architecture, strong economic development, renowned universities, and a cuisine mostly consisting of bread and potatoes. UNLIKE the rest of the Baltics, though, Lithuania is a hotbed for BASKETBALL

I have no idea how or why this happened, but Lithuania decided to be different from literally every other country in Europe and made basketball its national sport. In fact, Sports Illustrated says that Lithuanians are so passionate in their hoop dreams that it's more like a national religion. The men's team has won three bronze medals at the Olympics, one bronze at the FIBA World Cup, and three gold medals at EuroBasket. Today, the team (nicknamed "The Other Dream Team") is ranked eighth in the world. U of M's own Iggy Brazdeikis is Lithuanian, and he currently plays for his hometown team in Kaunas

## Tournament

Lithuania was defeated by New Caledonia in Round 1 Matchup 17 of FlagVote. As the 282 seed, it was defeated by Slovakia in Round 2 Matchup 104 of FlagVote 2 after previously defeating Toronto. As the 323 seed, it was defeated by Bonaire in Round 2 Matchup 200 of FlagVote 3 after previously defeating Zambia.

## Results

### FlagVote 2

**Round 1:** Win over (231) Toronto 4-3

**Round 2:** Loss to (26) Slovakia 4-1

### FlagVote 3

**Round 1:** Win over (702) Zambia 11-0

**Round 2:** Loss to (190) Bonaire 6-4