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clay dubeLet's use this corner of the forum to discuss the world of global and local games and the business of such games.
clay dubeHi Folks,
There's a terrific article in Foreign Policy magazine detailing the history of basketball in China. Turns out it was there before it was in Houston!
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3177
Among the tidbits in this article: YMCA missionaries brought Bibles and a copy of "Thirteen Rules of Basketball" with them when they went to Tianjin in the 1890s.
China's taking sports very seriously, investing heavily, developing leagues and so on. The Chinese won 32 gold metals at the 2004 Olympics, only 3 behind the US.
The NBA effort to cultivate the Chinese market began with a 1989 trip by commissioner Davidl Stern. Stern found that people were already fans of player Michael Jordan and his team, the Bulls, who would win 6 NBA championships.
You can also read a review of the documentary of Yao Ming's first NBA season at the Asia Pacific Arts website:
http://www.asiaarts.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=23054
AnonymousHa, ha, ha...!
I'm sure all the Koreans celebrated the victory over Japan in Sunday's World Baseball Classic reginal play-offs with much excitment and enthusiasm after what Ichiro Suzuki said two weeks before the game. The Korean people were enraged by his provocatively arrogant comments about how he would hammer Korean team, so that it won't think it can beat Japan for the next 30 years. Now he is dealing with much blame from Japanese fans and supporters and indignation from Korea as well. More bluntly he is "the shame of Japan," some said. I'm glad over the Korean team's victory.
Anonymous"Japan and Korea, baseball rivals along the lines of yankees-Read Sox, with a cultural rivalry that runs much deeper, played for the third time, in the third ballpark, in less than two weeks," Tim Brown writes in LA times on March 19. I thought it is rather interesting that Brown commented on the history of their rivalry in dealing with the sports. Korea and Japan have a long history of the above underlined, tracing back even to their origins to argue who/how came first. It became intensified in the 1900's as Japan occupied Korea and treated Koreans cruelly. This matter is still unresolved: "The 700th Wednesday rally for the settle ment of the issue of the 'comfort women' for the imperial Japanese army held in front of the japanese embassy in Seoul on March 15 strongly called for fighting to the end to force the Japanese government to make a formal apology and compensation to the victims" and the Japanese government has been ignoring the outcry for so long.[Edit by="cyu on Mar 20, 5:17:27 PM"][/Edit]
[Edit by="cyu on Mar 20, 5:18:33 PM"][/Edit]
AnonymousI have just heard about the national baseball playoffs. It seems like such a big deal to Japanese, Korean and other Asian nations. I personally don't really care about who wins who, but think about all this. Don't you think its a great way to compete and rule sports instead of try to rule the world? I think sports such as olympic games and national playoffs are the symbol of human peace and passion. I just hope all the people in the world is busy being passionate about winning a game instead of killing or bombing each other.
AnonymousWell, I think it's more than just "healthy competition."
When we divide our athletes up into teams separated by country/origin I think that a lot of nationalistic tendencies and mutual animosities come to surface. I enjoy watching sports competitions such as the WBC and the Olympics. But I'm afraid that reckless comments made by both Japanese and Korean players, fans, and journalists bring an ugliness to a game that's supposed to be fun. A sports 'game' between two countries with intense rivalries can easily stir up historical, political, racial, even religious "mudslinging."
clay dubeWho knew? I didn't -- a Chinese professional basketball team has been competing in the American Basketball Association this year. Their games have been broadcast back to China to large audiences. They are encountered great cultural differences and have enjoyed some success. Read about the adventure in the 3/22/06 issue of the LA Times:
LA Times stories are available for a week without charge (free registration is required).
AnonymousDid I sound too antagonistic? I usually don't enjoy watching sports competitions. Nonetheless, how can you stand when one team puts down another maliciously. No matter how good the team is, I think it has to respect another. Isn't that what sportmanship is all about?
AnonymousIt is interesting that a game can bring up previously unknown, or simply underneath the surface, nationalistic feelings among fans, players, etc.
For myself, I was excited about the prospect of seeing the best players from the around the world competing in tournanment similar to the soccer's world cup, and was also hoping the US would make a good showing.
Therefore, I found myself disappointed when the US team was eliminated early during the second round. I haven't examined my feelings to such an extent to determine whether my disappointment came from my sense of patriotism, or simply wanting to see the US all-stars play in person, the final round was being played in San Diego and I was going to go if the US had advanced to that far.
Related to Asia, when this competition was going on I remember reading an article how when the Koreans were beating the pants off the Japanese in the early rounds some viewed their celebrations as "showing up" the competition. For example, the last time Korea beat Japan the Korean players went out of their way to parade around the field draped in their flag, and even planted one on the pitcher's mound, perhaps like soldiers on a battlefield after a victory?
Anyway, even though Japan had lost to Korea like four times in the beginning rounds, they did finally beat the Koreans in the semi-finals to advance on.
One more thing, the people back in Korea had been going totally nuts over their team's strong showing, as is evidenced by the Korean president's statements in which he told their press that he was planning on exempting the Korean's players from their mandatory military service because of their excellent play.
AnonymousI recently saw that Japan won the World Baseball championship. What a great victory for Japan. I had no idea that baseball had become such a great part of Japanese culture. I guess I tend to think of Baseball and hot dogs as "American" culture and Sumo Wrestling, Karate and Sushi as Japanese culture. I find it very interesting that even though I like to think of myself as an open minded person, my very own stereotypes often keep me from uncovering the true and modern version of different cultures. Perhaps cultures are ever changing and so I should open my mind even further to uncover the beauty of diversity. I learned a very important lesson in reflecting upon my surprise about the outcome of this simple sports event. Hopefully the next lesson is just around the corner. Opening one's mind is the first great step toward learning and sharing new knowledge.
AnonymousI think it's intersting to take a look at how athletics related to China/Chinese affect US and their economoy. Look at Yao Ming of China who is the first Chinese player to make a big impact in the NBA (National Basketball Association). He was drafted with the first overall pick in 2002 to the Houston rockets. Yao became the third Chinese player ever to play in the NBA. He has played for the Chinese national team since 2000 and has been playing professional basketball since he was 17 years old, starting his career with the Shanghai Sharks of the China Basketball Association. Yao has become a big marketing icon in his home land as well as in America; American companies are hoping their brands and his name will sell. With major company’s like McDonald’s, Reebok, and Pepsi he should have no problems selling their products and selling his own image. In addition, being a local star in China he will help to sell basketball out there birnging in more money to NBA. Here we see an one international star, affecting business in both USA and China simultaneously.