2009 October

Entries from October 23rd, 2009

Broadcasting Monday Night Football to Chinese Audience

October 23rd, 2009 · 2 Comments · American Football, Sports Media

To most of Chinese I know, American football is difficult and distant. At Shanghai Scrap, Adam Minter interviews Zhang Nan, Monday Night Football’s play-by-play man in China, who tries his best to engage more Chinese into the sport. Sure, the NFL has a small audience in China (roughly 20,000 viewers watch the weekly simulcast), but [...]

Match-fixing Impossible and Groundless

October 17th, 2009 · No Comments · Government, Sports Regime

So we were told, from Reuters: Deputy sports minister Xiao Tian (肖天) lost his temper on Thursday when denying the accusation and addressing the fact that a pair of divers with obviously smaller splash did not win. “You can’t say it had been fxxking fixed, it’s fxxking fake, just because you lost,” Xiao told a news [...]

African Boots of Beijing, a Documentary Film

October 16th, 2009 · No Comments · Football

Danwei posted African Boots of Beijing, a 2006 documentary by Luke Mines and Jeremy Goldkorn about Afrika United FC, an amateur football team in Beijing. Go here to check the film’s official Web site. African Boots of Beijing: Part 1 from Danwei on Vimeo. Part 2 is here on Vimeo. The film is also on YouTube.

Xi Jinping Wants Chinese Football to Go Top (Update 1)

October 16th, 2009 · No Comments · Football, Government

When visiting a German pharmaceutical company yesterday, Mr. Xi Jinping was given a Bayer Leverkusen jersey with his name printed on as a gift. And the outspoken vice president takes on Chinese football this time. “The level of Chinese football is relatively low,” said Mr. Xi. “But after wining so many golds in other sports at [...]

Olympic Trampoline Champion Hints At Match-fixing in the National Games

October 15th, 2009 · No Comments · Gymnastics

Looks like it’s not just in diving. A misstep cost He Wenna (何雯娜), China’s first trampoline Olympic champion, 0.9 point in the final, ranking 5th by the end. And Zhong Xingping (钟杏平), an athlete from Guangdong team, won the champion. But He’s words after the final made one think that match-fixing at the 11th National [...]

What Yao Ming’s up to?

October 15th, 2009 · No Comments · Philanthropy

Still months to next season’s CBA. Yao Ming, the All-Star Houston Rockets center and new Shanghai Sharks boss, has joined an anti-smoking campaign to urge 350 million Chinese smokers to drop the habit. From Al Jazeera: While smoking is on the decline in many Western countries, China is one of the world’s fastest growing smoking [...]

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Tags:anti-smoking·health·Yao Ming

What’s with China’s National Games?

October 14th, 2009 · No Comments · Diving, Government

For those of you not familiar, China’s

Economist on Business of Sport in China

October 10th, 2009 · No Comments · Business

The Economist Intelligence Unit has done a comprehensive report about the business of sport in China, looking especially at the markets of basketball, football, golf and tennis in the country. In case you’re interested, both Zach and I were quoted for the story. To download the entire article via PDF, click on the link above.