Xinjiang Loses in CBA Finals...Did Anybody Notice?

Guangdong's Southern Tigers beat out Xinjiang's Flying Tigers last Sunday in a best-of-seven basketball championship that ended in five games.  This battle of the tigers marks the 14th season for the CBA (China Basketball Association) and the 5th trophy to go to Guangdong.  I felt obligated to watch at least a portion of the game since my home province was being represented but I walked away sorely disappointed.  Not only did my team lose but I was surprised that a sport as popular as basketball here in China didn't feel more, well...popular.

I also had a chance to watch an NBA playoff game last weekend, the Miami Heat vs the Atlanta Hawks.  The difference between the viewing experience of those two games was incredible.  One felt like a playoff game, the other felt like a high school basketball match.  Here are just a few of the differences:

One Camera vs. 20 Cameras

I really don't have a clue how many cameras are used to film a single CBA game, but it can't be more than 3 or 4.  Watching the game on TV I felt like I had bought tickets to the nosebleed section and I needed binoculars.  Rarely was a close-up shot used and instant-replays were unheard of.

Commercials

I guess I don't realize how much my sports experience relies on commercials, but it does.  Watching the Super Bowl here in China is absolutely boring without good commercials and the commercials that were shown during the CBA championship were laughable.

Post-Game Coverage

The post-game coverage for this recent game has been non-existent.  Take, for instance, the CBA's own coverage on their website, which doesn't even have a picture to go with the 5-paragraph article.  The picture I did find on one sports site here in China (see below) doesn't even show the players faces.  It's hard to find this acceptable after getting used to the ESPN coverage I had back at home.

 

 

Nobody Seems to Care

"Xinjiang is in the CBA Finals?" my friend asked me.  "Was" I said, "but they lost."  Watching sports alone isn't nearly as fun as watching it with friends, but when nobody else knows that your team is playing, who are you supposed to watch it with?

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I guess it will take time before watching sports in China becomes more fashionable, but until then it will take getting used to for any person coming over from the land of ESPN.  Just be glad that you were able to view the 2008 Olympics through the eyes of NBC instead of China's CCTV-5.

 

Extra Reading:

  ChinaSportsReview: Unstoppable Guangdong Wins CBA Title

Playing Basketball in China: An Insider's View

Basketball in China has always been a mystery to me.  There's no doubt it is one of the most popular sports here and yet there seems to be no system in which to learn to play.  Take for instance the CBA, China's professional basketball league that has produced the likes of Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian.  How did they get drafted to play, I wonder?  No college teams exist from which to scout new talent and there are no high school teams who play for province championships.  I have been determined to crack this "mystery of the invisible basketball system" since arriving here in China and this year I am finally getting a tiny insider's glimpse.

Last week I was invited to play in this month's city-wide tournament featuring this area's top basketball talent - not because I'm the best basketball player they've ever seen but because I'm the only white guy in the city and I play basketball well enough.  That's fine with me...my ego's not too big to fit that role.  Heck, how much pride can a 6 foot tall (1.88m) guy who can't dunk have?

To make things even more interesting, I will not only be allowed access to this city's finest competition and newest, most beautiful gyms but I'm also getting paid to do so!  I accepted the invitation to play before realizing I would get paid, so don't ask me how much because I don't know yet.  All I know is that over the next week or so I'll be showing you a little behind the scenes of playing basketball in China.

Playing Basketball in China: The Beginning

I'm still learning about the basketball system here in China, but I'll quickly recount for you the steps that have brought me to this tournament.  Think of it as my "humble beginnings":

1. The Outdoor Basketball Court:  In American terms we call this "street ball".  It's basically basketball on a concrete surface playing on a rim that rarely has a net.  Two years ago I went to the local college and started playing with the students there.  Like I said, I'm not a great ball player but I could run circles around most of these students, so after about 6 months of playing I was "noticed" by some of the phys. ed faculty and promoted to...
2. The Indoor Basketball Court:  Most every good high school in China now has a very modern looking basketball court.  It's the cool thing to do now, I guess.  Anyway, I was promoted to the indoor court and allowed to play with stiffer competition although the gym was only open on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays.  After another few months of proving myself as not only a decent player but also a fun foreigner I was eventually invited to participate in their...
3. Company Competition:  A company sometimes decides to hold their own tournament with the different departments making up the teams.  Benefits of playing in these tournaments include free jerseys and a monetary prize for each team's MVP.  One tournament I was involved in was actually a cooperation amongst a couple of related companies, which isn't all uncommon.  It was through relationships that I developed in these competitions that I was invited to participate in...
4. City or Independently Sponsored Tournaments:  This is where I find myself right now.  The competition I am involved with, called the "Heathy Cup", is actually independently organized but I think partially financed by the city.  Each team has its own sponsor and a coach whose players can either be recruited or part of a company group.  As I find out more about how this works I'll let you know.

The tournament starts this week but we'll be practicing for a few days beforehand.  I'm interested to see how good my teammates will be.  Games will take place every night for the next 12 days and I've already been told that the team goes out to eat every night after the games.  We'll see how that goes.  My Chinese is improving every day, but I'm afraid I won't be able to hold my own during any fast-moving conversation.  I'll keep you posted as all this fun unfolds!

IBL & CBA Basketball Comes to Xinjiang, China

My wife came home a few weeks ago telling me that she had something special for me that she thought I'd really enjoy.  To my amazement she pulled out of her purse two tickets to one of the biggest social events that this year has provided for our small town of Karamay - a basketball game featuring the Shaanxi CBA team (China Basketball Association) and an American IBL team (International Basketball League) from California.  Everybody who was anybody in this town was going to make it to this game and now I was going to be one of them.

My first reaction when I saw the tickets was to look at the price - 260 yuan ($40 US) for one ticket, and we got the nosebleed!  For those of you big-city people here in China, 260 might not seem like an expensive ticket, but for us here in Xinjiang those two tickets represented our month's budget for groceries.  It wasn't a regretted purchase, just not one we would make every day.  In hindsight, the arena wasn't completely full for the game and I think the organizers could have turned a bit more of a profit by lowering the price and avoiding sticker shock.

Of those who were able to afford tickets to this event, many had never seen a black man, much less a black man who was nearly 2.1 meters (7 feet) tall!  The game ended up being more of an exhibition match whose pre-game and half-time "shows" were just as much a part of the entertainment as the basketball, but it was still an memorable experience.

Here's a few thoughts I had about the match:

• National Anthems:  I noticed that unlike the American anthem, the Chinese anthem is usually just heard, not sung.  Also, you'll never see a Chinese person put their hand over their heart during the anthem.  It's just not the custom.
• The Dunk:  Cheering is not a strong quality in the Chinese people.  This is why they had to teach the Chinese to cheer before the Olympics - they just don't do it much.   Nobody truly cheered until one of the players dunked the ball, then they went crazy.  A short dunking contest during half time convinced me that most of these people would have been happy to just watch a dunk and then go home.
• Even Sub-Stars Have Egos:  Although most of these guys were pretty good players and really nice guys, some of them acted like NBA stars with egos much bigger than their talents.  It should have been a clue to them that they were playing in some podunk gym in the middle of nowhere, China.  A couple fights broke out between the American and Chinese players and it was a bit embarassing to watch.
• The Americans Lost:  Yup, and the game wasn't even that close.
• Sign, sign, sign:  After the game these guys were polite enough to stick around to take pictures and sign autographs for all the young fans.  Ironically, when we went down to the floor to introduce ourselves to them as the only Americans in the town, they also mobbed us!  I signed shirts, pictures, and pieces of paper for kids who would probably see me in the grocery store the next week.  It was funny and awkward.

 All in all a very fun experience.  I just wish that big events like this would happen more often in our city!

Basketball Etiquette: Don't Block the Boss

I learned a lesson in Chinese etiquette last night that I think might be worth sharing.  I learned it in an unusual place, though - the basketball court.  I love to play basketball, and fortunately for me it is a sport that is catching on like wildfire over here in China.  Every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday I head down to our school gym to play with a bunch of the university faculty for a couple of hours, and as Tiffany my wife could tell you, it's part of my week that I hate to miss.  It's a sport that I love and a group of guys that I have thankfully become good friends with.

You see, Chinese people are notorious for having a thick exterior that is hard to break through, and I've found only three things that can break that skin: 1) a lot of time, 2) liquor (takes less time, but I don't like to drink), or 3) basketball. The latter, of course, is my favorite. It has earned me respect and comraderie among my Chinese peers faster than anything else.

I made a mistake last night, though, and I hope it won't cost me.  Halfway through one of our games my team was trailing by close to 10 points and I was getting antsy.  As I set up for defense, a player from the other team took a pass, and immediately drove straight down down the center lane where I was for a short jump shot to end the game.  I did what any tall center would do in my position as the player headed my direction and set up for the game-winning shot...I swat it with everything I had across the court. "Sweet block!" I said to myself.

Usually when I do this I am met with many shouts of "hao qiu!" or "Nice play!", but this time the gym went dead silent.  On second glance I realized what had happened - I had just blocked the university president's shot.  Oops.  All remained silent and still, except for the ball still bouncing down the court unnoticed, until he finally said "hao qiu", his indication that everything is OK, let's keep playing.  I looked at the sideline toward a friend who gave me a face which said, "Might not want to do that next time."  Point taken.

So I've taken notice, made my mistakes, and now want to pass on this nugget of wisdom for all wanting to play basketball (or possibly any sport) in China.  Good defense and hustle are always acceptable on the basketball court.  I can get in any person's face to make the shot harder for them to make or capitalize on their mistakes.  You can block the lowly faculty (I've done that many times), you can block the department head (definitely done that).  You can even block the vice-president if you so desire (yup, guilty as charged), although I'd be careful with that.

But whatever you do: Don't Block the Boss!

Yes, I'm American...No, I Can't Dunk

Most of what happens in our lives here in China revolves around two things - the school and all those associated with the school, whether Chinese or American. This has its good and bad sides - the good being that there are quite a few people who speak (or at least attempt to speak) English to us and the bad, at least for me, is that all those people are made up of the female race. This has been great for Tiff, who towards the end of this year has really begun to get close with a few of those English teachers, but it has left me with a lack of male companionship.

This lack of companionship has led me to first try to establish a good line of communication with old friends at home and also to try to find my niche here. The first has been difficult, although I don't blame my friends because I realize I have much more free time here to write e-mails than they do in the States, and the second has presented its challenges as well. The fact that I don't speak good Chinese is quite a roadblock to looking for friends beyond our school walls, but earlier this year I realized that I speak a "language" that is becoming very popular in China now:

Basketball.

The main college campus in this town is across the street and I decided one day in May, I think, to just go over to their courts with a basketball. You should have seen the jaws drop - many of them had probably never met a foreigner in person much less played against one at least a foot taller than them in basketball (notice how this young man has no chance of blocking my shot). I haven't played much since high school but I haven't completely lost my touch either, so I will try to say with much humility that I have thankfully been able to earn their respect on the court over the past few months. Their only disappointment in me came when they found out that not all American basketball players can dunk (I'm a big white boy for goodness sakes!). I'm working on it - I'll get back to you next year with my progress. Also during this time my Chinese has been improving enough to where between my broken Chinese and their broken English we can actually have a decent conversation. It's really been exciting!

After talking with Tiff and mustering up as much courage as I could, I invited a few of them out to dinner last night not knowing if we'd even be able to converse much over the table. We went to a good restaurant down the street (my treat - not only am I a "rich" foreigner, but the "poor college student" cliche applies in China as well) and ate a very hearty meal followed by Tiff's American-package brownies back at the apartment (thanks moms!). Best of all, not only was the conversation unending but it also veered to places I was only "thinking" about! I will go into more details in person for most of you later, but I will say that they were very open to answer my questions and very curious to ask their own. We have swapped e-mails and phone numbers in hopes that over the course of the next year we can continue to lay the groundwork for a good friendship and possibly for those more important things in life.

Let me introduce my newest friends real quick before I sign off here. Remember, the first name is actually their surname or what we consider the "last name". Also, another quick Chinese lesson, the "zh" sounds similar to our "j" and the "x" is somewhat similar to an "sh". From left to right: Zhan Shaodong, me, Huang Xingping, Zhang Jiaqi, and Mi Jilong.