02.14.10
Posted in Beijing, Chinese Language, Media/Internet, Politics, Sports, USA at 11:19 by Nator
I’m watching the NBA 2010 All-Star Weekend festivities right now on BTV 6, Beijing’s sports channel. (CCTV 5 would probably have this in other years, but today it’s showing the Winter Olympics.) After Steve Nash won the skills competition, Dwyane Wade stepped to center court and gave a short speech asking people to contribute to relief efforts for the Haiti earthquake. At the end he said, “And now please listen to this special message from former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.”
The broadcast immediately switched back to the BTV studio, where the three hosts babbled for about five minutes straight. I can’t imagine that the NBA didn’t allow this message to be shown in China, so I can only assume it was BTV’s decision. I haven’t found any video clips posted online yet, but I did find the website for the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, which somehow hasn’t been blocked in China. Here are some excerpts from the homepage:
On January 12, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti just outside the capital city of Port-au-Prince. The devastation – in lives lost, property destroyed, and families displaced – is immense. . .
Our immediate priority is to save lives. The critical needs in Haiti are great, but they are also simple: food, water, shelter, and first-aid supplies. The best way concerned citizens can help is to donate funds that will go directly to supplying these material needs. . .
We ask each of you to give what you can to help ensure the people of Haiti can build back stronger and better than ever.
It’s too bad the ex-Presidents haven taken such an extreme position and chosen to use such inflammatory language. I can only hope that broadcasters around the world, American ones included, followed BTV’s lead and did not let this message go out.
UPDATE: NBA China uses oblique means and stealthy feints to implant another controversial message from Dwyane “Time Delay Capsule” Wade. This time he smiles and wishes the Chinese people a happy new year — in Chinese! Disgusting.
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10.31.09
Posted in Beijing, Sports at 15:37 by Nator
3:32 — I just set up the laptop and will post throughout the game, Sports Guy style. Hope to get the rest of the crew watching and writing as well. Two minutes in and Guo’An already scored–Emil Martinez took a nice pass, shot it right at the keeper from about 15 yards out, then followed up the deflection and bumped it in with his body.
3:44 — It’s great to see a full stadium for once. I always wondered what the players, especially the foreign ones, thought about playing in a city with close to 20 million inhabitants but only getting 20,000 or so fans at each home game.
3:55 — Starting to get a little feisty, with bodies starting to fly. Guoan just got two free kicks in a row from about 30 yards out. On the second one, Martinez ran in for the follow up and almost poked another one in.
3:58 — I think Hangzhou is starting to sense the game slipping away, as Beijing attacks relentlessly. The fouls are getting more and more desperate. This is getting the crowd fired up as well. The early goal probably help keep them in a good mood, but the shabi chants are likely to break out anytime.
4:08 — League update: Henan Jianye, currently tied with Guoan at 48 points, is losing 0-1 at Shenzhen. But the bigger threat is from Changchun Yatai (one point back but playing a weaker opponent at home), currently up 2-0 against Chongqing Lifan.
4:16 — First half is over. Hangzhou was putting a lot of pressure on Beijing in the last five minutes. A free kick just before the whistle bounced inside the 18-yard box and Guoan’s goalkeeper had to kick it away–but he ended up kicking it straight up in the air. Fortunately he was able to recover and grab it as it fell.
4:22 — BTV goes to an impressive split screen with live sideline reporters at all three key match sites: Beijing, Shenzhen, and Changchun. I never saw anything this nice before the Olympics. The other two cities have swaths of empty seats, though the Shenzhen reporter just claimed there were over 40,000 in attendance, even though the sections behind her were barely half full.
4:27 — She also said, if I heard correctly, that the Shenzhen fans were cheering in support of Beijing. I wonder if many Beijingers living in Shenzhen or Changchun are attending their local matches in order to cheer on Guoan.
4:33 — Second half started, then the ref made them start over. Not clear why.
4:35 — Now we’re starting for real.
4:39 — Goal! Martinez again. Got the ball on the left side and looked ready to cross it, but instead blasted it into the perfect spot. Amazing.
4:42 — Beijing’s Tao Wei just got shoved hard in the chest and went down. Looked to be real. Now he’s up. Let’s hope Guoan doesn’t pussy out and start feigning multiple injuries to try and run out the clock. Win it honorably.
4:45 — The crowd is going bonkers right now, chanting shabi over and over, as the announcers pretend not to notice and the stadium speakers blast Ricky Martin’s “Copa la Vida” to try and drown them out. Classic Guoan Football.
4：52 — Horrible defensive error by Guoan’s right back gave Hangzhou a 2-on-1. The Hangzhou player managed to cut down his angle and then shoot it right into the keeper’s hands. Close call.
4:59 — Twenty minutes left. Guoan has backed off and is content to play defense and make the occasional counterattack. They’re looking very comfortable and confident right now.
5:01 — Tao Wei goes down again. Looks like a defender stepped on his right foot. He’s my favorite Guoan player, partly because he always seems to be involved in the big plays, and partly because he’s the only player I can recognize from year to year.
5:05 — And Tao Wei gets a big cheer as he is subbed off in the 75th minute.
5:06 — A Guoan player and his defender both go for a ball about ten yards away from the Hangzhou goal. The Beijing player goes down, and though it looks clean to me, the ref immediately whistles a penalty. The replay shows the Guoan player jumping into his defender. Bad call. Zhou Ting scores on the penalty; 3-0 Guoan.
5:10 — And as I was typing the last sentence, Martinez gets the hat trick! 4-0. He takes off his shirt in celebration, and the ref gives him a yellow card, though he’s smiling and even a bit apologetic as he does so.
5:13 — Beijing is just pouring it on now, pushing forward and shooting as hard as they have all match. I’d advise them to tone it down a bit; this is the kind of thing that can lead to a vicious foul from the other side.
5:16 — In the 85th minute Guoan makes its final substitution and slows down the pace. Hangzhou isn’t even trying anymore and is just waiting for the final few minutes to tick away.
5:25 — And that wraps it up! The crowd cheers the players on a victory lap as Tao Wei gets the first interview. No translator available for Martinez?
5:42 — For once the TV announcers don’t shut down the broadcast right after the final whistle. We’ve had twenty commercial-free minutes to enjoy the celebrations and hear interviews with close to a dozen players and coaches. The BTV sideline report is not afraid to show who she’s rooting for–she’s wearing a Guo’an scarf. Still no interviews with any foreign players yet.
5:44 — Funny shot from Guoan’s locker room, where players are celebrating their victory by dousing each other with…bottled water.
5:52 — The locker room camera catches a Chinese man who has to be at least fifty years old with a Yankees cap on. Now I understand why American teams always have those goofy caps ready for any championship.
6:08 — BTV 6 is outdoing itself–I just watched a fantastic ten-minute montage of the season. No no commentary, but great music. Now we’re back to the studio seen in the pregame, where they’re serving red wine to the audience for a giant toast. The announcers are hugging, high-fiving each other, and welling up with emotion.
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Posted in Beijing, Law and Order, Sports at 15:08 by Nator
ODB and I walked by Workers’ Gymnasium at about 4:30pm yesterday and saw a couple hundred Hangzhou fans cheering and carrying a dragon made of yellow balloons. Later in the evening, as JZ and I tried to hail a taxi in a cold rain, it was easy to spot an inordinate amount of Hangzhou blue on sweatshirts, umbrellas, and glowing devil horns.
Currently The Beijing-Hangzhou match is less than an hour away. I’ve got the TV on but both CCTV and Beijing TV sports channels are showing boring studio talk shows for the pregame. No College Football Gameday in China yet, unfortunately. A Reuters article quoting the Beijing Youth Daily confirms my prediction of a heavy police presence, though even I didn’t expect it to be so high:
Up to 6,000 police will be on duty for Beijing Guoan’s Chinese Super League (CSL) match on Saturday, where they could seal their first title, after fans rioted on Thursday after failing to get tickets for the game….
About 10,000 fans had gathered outside the stadium on Thursday in the hope to buy tickets, but only 13,000 of the 60,000 seats in the stadium were put on sale, leaving thousands frustrated, the paper said.
I didn’t even think a riot would be possible with all the police assigned to the ticket lines. And honestly, I don’t really trust that 6,000 cops will be able to control a stadium full of fans, who will surely walk out either ecstatic or enraged.
Kickoff is now about 25 minutes away. BTV gave a minute or two to the sideline reporter and is back to the studio chat with the sappy background music; CCTV is now showing figure skating.
UPDATE: Added a pic of the riot police lined up outside Workers’ Stadium.
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10.29.09
Posted in Beijing, Law and Order, Sports at 14:57 by Nator
Beijing’s soccer team, Beijing Guoan F.C., is playing this weekend for the Chinese Super League title, and tickets went on sale this morning. Thousands of people are currently in line outside the Workers’ Stadium and Workers’ Gymnasium. I thought about sending an employee to stand in line and buy me some tickets, but it looks like he’d have to wait for hours.
The typical Beijing Guo’an game fills about a quarter of the seats in Workers’ Stadium, though those who do show up are very vocal in their support. I would not be surprised if this match brings in a full house. Here’s a photo of the crowd from a match I attended back in 2005, when the team was known as Beijing Xiandai (the Chinese name for carmaker Hyundai):
In contrast, here’s a picture of the same stadium during China’s victory over Qatar in the 2004 Asian Cup:
Beijing currently is tied with Henan Siwu at the top of the table but is ahead due to a five point lead in goal difference; the title is thus Beijing’s to lose. Changchun Yatai (47 points) also has a reasonable chance to win, and Shandong Luneng (45 points) is mathematically still in the running.
Beijing’s opponent is Hangzhou Lücheng, currently second to last in the table and facing relegation if they lose, so it won’t be a walkover. Henan’s opponent is mid-table Shenzhen (ninth out of sixteen teams), and Henan will be playing away. The greater threat is probably from Changchun, which faces last-place Chongqing Lifan at home. Chongqing cannot avoid relegation and has little to play for besides pride, so Changchun has a good chance to win. This makes Saturday’s match-up a critical match for Beijing.
Even though Beijing’s team is consistently one of the best in the CSL, it’s rare to see much open support for them. The only hint I saw of this week’s excitement came a couple of months ago, when thousands of (mostly young) paraded down Gongti Bei Lu after a match, presumably toward the Dongsishitiao subway station.
Below is a picture I took before the 2005 home match again Dalian Shide, the strongest team in the CSL over the past 15 years and a major rival. There was no line; I just walked up and bought my tickets. Note the dirt-cheap prices, which ranged from 20 to 80 RMB. The “booth” consisted of a guy sitting behind the (locked) entrance gate–you can see his empty chair in the picture. I handed my money through the gate and he gave me my tickets.
Whether in response to aforementioned post-game march, which appeared to be spontaneous, or simply out of habit after the Olympics and recent National Day celebrations, the police are out in full force today. There are perhaps 500 to 1000 officers and dozens of vehicles surrounding the ticket buyers. To avoid even the chance of anything getting out of hand, the ticket line was not a line at all but rather bunches of a few hundred fans, each completely surrounded by dozens of police officers and at least 30 yards away from the next group.
Back in 2005, police were at the games but not down on the field for most of the match, as you can see from the pictures above. Standard procedure was to have them ringing the pitch until game time, at which point they would march up to their own section and enjoy the game.
Meanwhile, Beijing’s fans tended to get very rowdy, making up dirty cheers, hold up signs attacking the refs and others, and throwing anything available onto the pitch.
The most obvious rabble-rousers would be taken away during the game. From my observation, holding up a sign was far more likely to get you into trouble than thowing things at opposing players. (The authorities are well aware of the political dangers of letter fans holding up signs).
Only in the final minutes of the game would the police march back down to their positions around the pitch. Based on the security presence today, one can only imagine how many police they’ll have out for Saturday afternoon’s match.
UPDATE: Talked to a guy at the Subway sandwich shop across from the stadium at around 5pm today; he said tickets had sold out hours ago, and that many of the fans had been camping out for the last two nights. Probably some good business for Subway.
UPDATE: Titan Sports has some good slideshows, including the strict police control of the crowds, happy faces of fans with their tickets, and of course the pretty girls in line.
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08.04.09
Posted in Chinese Nationalism, Laowai, Manners, Sports, Wuhan at 13:16 by Nator
Now it’s the ladies’ turn, or rather the girls’ turn. A post-match fight erupted after China beat Australia in the U-19 women’s football tournament match in Wuhan. China’s Titan Sports has the best coverage; curiously, its video link to the footage of the violence isn’t working, but another article has a few photos.
I watched a few minutes of the match last night before going to bed. Seemed like a pretty boring match, or at least not one that would lead to a fight.
ESPN provides a few details on the incident:
However following the final whistle, an Australia player fell to the ground while remonstrating with the Chinese, prompting captain Tameka Butt to charge across the pitch and grab the perceived offender.
That sparked a mass brawl as both sets of players and backroom staff charged onto the pitch, with punches thrown.
Shocking enough, but it gets worse:
Once order was restored, several plastic water bottles were thrown from the crowd in the direction of the Australian team – whose ages range from 15 to 19 – as they made their way down the tunnel with local police imploring fans to stop the behaviour.
Soccer players fighting in China? Women arguing in Wuhan? Fans throwing bottles at teenage girls? The reporter unwittingly gets it right: “Order was restored”, at least in China’s soccer universe.
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07.30.09
Posted in Beijing, Law and Order, Manners, Sports at 19:28 by Nator
On July 26, Beijing played Tianjin in a run-up to the 11th National Games of the PRC, to be held later this year. China News Wrap has the story:
In the second half of the competition, head referee He Zhibiao gave three successive red cards to Tianjin players Liu Qing, Liang Jie and Ma Leilei, causing intense dissatisfaction and resentment amongst the Tianjin team, who felt that the referee’s decisions were unfair. Prior to the overtime, Tianjin goalkeeper Li Gen walked over to the stands for the Tianjin team and proposed that they refused to play any further. The team’s head coach refused, however, and the match continued. In the second minute of overtime, Tianjin player Geng Yin scored an own-goal, giving the Beijing team a 3:1 lead.
Once the whistle blew to signal the end of the match, Tianjin goal keeper Li Gen rushed over to head referee He Zhibiao and began to verbally abuse him…He Zhibiao attempted to avoid Li Gen, and walked towards the stadium exit. At this point, Tianjin team member, Hao Tanjiao, rushed over the rushed past security guards, and Tianjin players began to attack the head referee on the field. He Zhibiao, after falling to the ground, crawl up again and rushed towards the exit, while Tianjin players were prevented from pursuing him by security guards.
The inflammatory words and unruly behavior of football fans caused the spectator stands to fall into chaos, and after the match fans from both sides threw water bottles at each other. Three female fans from Tianjin in particular drew a great deal of attention. After Tianjin players were penalized with a red card, they became especially agitated, stood up, began waving their arms and shouting “fake foul”. Security guards repeatedly asked these three fans to leave the stands, but were ignored. After the conclusion of the game, just after the agitation in the stands had subsided, these female fans resumed their conflict with Beijing fans on the stands, and began throwing water bottles. The Tianjin female friends were escorted by security guards from the stadium.”
The cameras caught all 20 minutes of chaos; so far, “Beat Referee Incident” and “ViolenceGate” (video and pictures at both links) are the two most popular names for the event. Tianjin’s team has been banned from the upcoming National Games as a result.
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All this excitement reminds me of several years ago, when ODB and I started going to soccer matches at Workers’ Stadium. I remember watching China beat Qatar in the 2004 Asian Cup, but missed Japan’s victory over China, when the Chinese fans were so famously gracious in defeat. Most of the time, though, we would just watch Beijing’s professional club, Beijing Guoan (sometimes Beijing Guo’an). Back then they were known as Beijing Xiandai. (Xiandai is Chinese for “modern”; in Korean the word is Hyundai, the team’s former sponsor), and the matches were always fun, though not always for the skill of play on the field:
- Dirt-cheap tickets, as little as 10-20 RMB–far less than the hundreds of RMB charged for tickets when the international clubs come to town, even if it’s a relatively obscure side like Hull City (who beat Guoan in penalties last night).
- Perhaps twenty thousand fans, all packed around the center of the pitch, would keep up a constant stream of “[so-and-so], shabi!” chants for most of the match. The obvious targets were the opposing players and refs, but occasionally non-soccer figures that were making the people mad would be cursed as well. Whenever they got too loud, white noise or the Guo’an fight song would blast from the speakers at full volume in an attempt to drown out the cursing for the TV audience.
- Although police lined the edge of the field, fans were more or less allowed to throw whatever they wanted onto the field. Many brought toilet paper, and many others threw plastic water bottles–often full. The Gongti stadium has a track around the soccer pitch, so most of the missiles couldn’t reach the players. But anytime the opposing team lined up for a corner, objected rained down on the kicker.
- Fans shouted insults and jokes about the refs and the other team, as if they were performing for the crowds around them. Many fans also brought signs with funny, offensive, and risque rhymes on them. Plenty of people got kicked out, but the police were never too rough, and no one seemed to mind getting kicked out.
Around 2006, Workers’ Stadium was closed for renovations before the Olympics, and we didn’t care the follow the team as they moved south to a stadium in Fengtai for the matches. But now it’s 2009, the Olympics are over, and Guoan is back in Gongti. We didn’t really have our act together for the spring matches, and they haven’t had a home match in the CSL, China’s top professional league, since July 2.
Last night I heard the familiar strains of Guoan’s fight song from my new office near Gongti:
喔噢…… 北京国安 我们永远支持你
噢…… 北京国安 我们永远热爱你
Oh-ohhh, Beijing Guoan, we will always support you!
Ohhh, Beijing Guoan, we will always love you!
Guoan plays six matches at home in August and September, and it will enter the second half of the season at the top of the CSL table. ODB and I will be there. And given that Sunday’s incident was between under-20 teams, we are confident that the next generation of football in China will bring the same spirit of friendship onto the field that today’s fans show in the stands.
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04.13.09
Posted in Sports, USA at 19:32 by SHTig
Ever do a google search for “Cal Ripken” and “steroids”? Maybe that’s how you landed here. I found nothing serious on the subject out there, and what is there are Cal-has-nothing-to-prove blog entries, like this one:
- Fact: Cal played in the Steroids Era.
- Opinion: Cal Ripken may have used performance enhancing drugs. I’ll bet he probably did.
- The 1990s are still a dark age for tangible and detailed information on juicing.
Remember the late Ken Caminiti, the fella won the MVP in 1996 and later told Sports Illustrated that he used steroids that year, and that he estimated 50% of players were using steroids that year.
So let’s talk about 1996. Remember that 1996 Oriole team? I do, because it was the first time as their fan they made the playoffs. You remember the ‘96 team – it’s the one in which 12 year old Jeffrey Maier snatched a long Jeter drive from OF Tony Tarasco, making it a home run. But another highlight of that team and year is that every starter had 20 HR or more, and the Orioles set the then all time record for team home runs.
In 1996, Ripken hit over 50% more homeruns than he did in either of the previous 2 years, or for the rest of his playing career. In 1999, at age 39, he was repeatedly injured, but the .276 career batting average man had a smashing year statistically: .340 b.a., same number of doubles in that partial season as he hit in full seasons towards career end (27) (except for ‘96 when he had 40), and was on a 32 homeruns pace over a 600AB season (the most HR he ever had was 34, in his MVP year of 1991). Lest it be overlooked, Ripken holds the MLB consecutive games played streak, from May 30, 1982 – Sept 20, 1998. That huge guy (6′4″, 193cm) played the hardest position physically after pitcher and catcher, and kept the energy up for every game.
This proves nothing, but Ripken’s sidestepping the steriods question in 2006 doesn’t help make sense of his secure place during the steroids era.
But Cal’s remarks in 2006 are of the same ’gee whiz’ nature that convicted steroid users use when lying about or minimizing extent of their usage, e.g.:
- “I’m curious [whether McQuire used steroids], but I don’t feel that I’m in a position to judge,” Ripken said at the baseball winter meetings. “History will judge us all in some way. And, if you’re content with the truth coming out, then whether your judgment day is now or 50 years from now doesn’t matter.”
- “A smarter person will have suspicions when you look around and see people coming back a lot bigger than they were,” he said. “I realize that steroids were an issue in other sports. But no way did I know it was as big as it’s starting to show it was.”
- “I think we all were very disappointed that steroids came flying out into the game of baseball. The integrity of the game was in question,” Ripken said. “It’s sad that a cloud is over baseball. Maybe the whole story has not been told yet. I believe the story will come out in time.”
Contrite remarks coming from squeaky clean Rip on his way to Cooperstown. Ripken is smart, though, and knew from Palmerio’s finger jabbing in the air before Congressthat he shouldn’t go on any record with too much that could haunt him later. Speaking of Palmiero, Cal’s quotes above remind me of the hillarious situation Palmiero was in 2005, when on July 15th he got his 3,000th hit, but barely celebrated because his positive steroid test was under appeal and not yet publicly known, though he knew it would be soon (and it was on Aug 2).
Palmeiro cried privately in the dugout and cleared the locker room as fast as possible because he “had to go get his rest”. In that twightlight zone of post-3000 hits but pre-steriod suspension, he said in this interview “I still don’t put myself in their class.” “You’re talking about two of the best players in history. I’m in a group with them now but that doesn’t mean I belong in their class. Hank has about 200 more home runs than I do. Mays has about 100 more home runs. I shouldn’t be anywhere close to this group.”
I remember thinking how unnecessarily modest he was being for a man who just joined the 3000-500 club. And I never forgot that, just as I haven’t forgot the way Ripken answers questions related to steroids use.
Finally, for a bit of guilt by association, history shows that the Orioles went on to become a steroids infested team after Ripken’s retirement (Rafael Palmeiro, Miguel Tejada, Sammy Sosa, Brian Roberts, Jay Gibbons, Gary Mathews Jr., Jerry Hairston Jr, Larry Bigbie, Jason Grimsley, David Segui, Manny Alexander, Jack Cust…gawd let me just stop here, before I go into the obvious-but-not-provens, like Brady Anderson.
No one, including the Baltimore Sun, investigates Cal because he was a great player, he “saved baseball after the 1994 strike”, is a local Maryland hero, involved in the community and a decent and likable guy.
But possibly also a PED dabbler too…
–SHTig
UPDATE: Truth From Facts focuses primarily on China, but since Cal Ripken did visit Beijing in 2007, by extension…
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08.10.08
Posted in Olympics, Politics, Sports at 12:29 by ODB
As reported by The Jerusalem Post, an Iranian swimmer refused to race in the fourth heat of the 100 meter breaststroke alongside an Israeli swimmer.
“This isn’t the first time this has happened and it doesn’t surprise me anymore,” Olympic Committee of Israel General Secretary Efraim Zinger told The Jerusalem Post.
“My heart goes out to the Iranian athletes. In the Athens Olympics one of their sportsmen, who was a gold medal favorite, had to pull out because he was drawn against an Israeli.”
“There’s no place for this kind of behavior in the Olympic movement and it’s a shame it continues.”
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08.09.08
Posted in Beijing, Chinese Nationalism, Media/Internet, Olympics, Politics, Sports, Technology, The Wenchuan Earthquake, USA at 13:49 by Nator
“Finally” was a word that stuck out a lot in last night’s opening ceremonies. The announcers said it over and over, talking about the long wait for the Oympics. And after slogging through four hours last night (aside from a short nap during Rogge’s speech), I woke up this morning a bit more relaxed, knowing that the big event was finally here and had started without any major problems.
Even thought the first thing I did after I woke was turn on the Slingbox and watch the NBC broadcast, I couldn’t get that excited about this year’s ceremonies. Having lived in Beijing for most of the last seven years, I have definitely become a bit sick of the endless preparations and was just looking forward to being finished with the whole thing. I’m also not as impressed by certain features of the ceremony that are fairly common in China–large crowds moving in unison, for example.
Knowing all this, I was still surprised to hear Bob Costas say that this event should ”retire the trophy” for opening ceremonies and to read Pat Forde’s glowing praise on ESPN.com (though I did agree with most of his article on opening ceremony fashion). Granted, both of them viewed the spectacle in person, and perhaps many of the best moments just didn’t translate well onto TV. But isn’t TV what really matters? Even in Beijing, 99% of the audience probably watched it on a TV or outdoor screen.
Below are a few of my specific reactions to various parts of the ceremonies:
Surprised: That NBC didn’t bother showing the opening ceremonies live. Highlights were available everywhere online immediately after the event finished, and I imagine that many casual viewers in the US simply watched a couple minutes at work and didn’t bother with the four-hour evening event. I had NBC on via Slingbox all evening, and they just showed The Today Show as usual. They even had a couple hosts talking live from a dark Beijing, while the event was going on somewhere nearby.
Impressed: By the giant screen that ran all the way around the top of the stadium and showed various images during the ceremony–a clever touch, though from the TV broadcast it was often hard to make out what was being shown on the screen….The people flying around, suspended by wires, early on (though not later on–see below for more on that)….The two dancers who painted swirls on the ground with their feet and ands–it was simple yet effective; and it had the China element without hitting viewers over the head….The Olympic rings logo that started flat on the ground, then slowly peeled upward to float vertically in the air….The opening string of fireworks, and the swirling flame racing up to light the the cauldron.
Underwhelmed: The opening drum-light sequence. It looked like they were using flourescent lights, many of which flickered for a few seconds before coming on. And they didn’t really do anything with the lights except to stage confusing countdown with the kind of graphics normally found on ODB’s calculator wristwatch. The countdown started at “60″ but we thought it might have said “GO”. Then they went to 50, 40, 30, 20, 10, 9, 8 (by this time the crowd had finally figured out what was going on and started yelling out the numbers) and down to zero. But the time between the jumps of 1 and of 10 was exactly the same–just odd.
Baffled: Several bands took turns playing music during the athletes’ walk-in: a group of Chinese ladies who looked a lot like the 女子十二乐坊 (“Twelve Girls Band“) and played squawky Chinese stuff that I tuned out and that JZ said was commonly heard at Chinese weddings; a group of African(?) drummers, by far the best of the lot; and, inexplicably, some bagpipers, who I never actually saw. I missed NBC’s introduction to this part and didn’t hear any explanation from the Chinese announcers, so I still have no idea why these groups were chosen. It was jarring to hear the switch to a new band every three minutes. And they seemed to have only prepared a song or two each–the bagpipers definitely played at least one well-known bagpiper song (and how many of them are there?) more than once.
Nodding: In agreement at the repeated use of children in the festivities. Not exactly the boldest choice, but surely the among the safest.
Annoyed: At the often frazzled camera work from CCTV. Several times they switched to cameras that weren’t ready–where the cameraman was walking along, getting into position, or not focused on anything. During several sequences, they cut to different shots every second or two, almost like a music video, with no rhyme or reason. A number of views that came without explanation, such as the multiple shots of a certain athete during the “march of nations” without ever telling us who he or she was, or the repeated shots of blue-shirted volunteers/cheerleaders awkwardly dancing and waving as the crowd around them sat in silence. NBC did a much better job, going for longer shots and and generally choosing better angles for most of the scenes. The NBC crew also reacted quickly, switching cameras within seconds to someone whose name had just been mentioned by the announcers. It may have all been scripted, but it felt natural.
Amused: At the difference in the Chinese and US announcers’ handling of the event, especially during the athletes’ walk-in. The Chinese announcers stayed far away from any controversy and introduced each country by listing its strongest events, number of medals won, and other simple (and boring) facts. NBC’s crew, in contrast, used a lot of political background and human interest stories. As China’s athletes entered the stadium, for example, the young boy walking with Yao Ming got more face time than anyone on NBC’s broadcast and allowed Costas and others to talk about China’s population, economic growth, the Wenchuan earthquake, the torch protests, and all sorts of other anecdotes.
Horrified: At the goose-stepping soldiers. I know it’s normal here and in many other countries, but it instantly makes me think of Nazis, and I imagine most other Americans have a similar reaction.
Embarrassed: The birds’ nest and flying dove segment was a hot tranny mess. I’m sure both were very difficult technically and required months of practice. But the ”flapping” of the bird’s wings looked pretty amateur from CCTV’s camera angles, and the human version of the Bird’s Nest stadium made me feel that the hosts were just a little too proud of their new stadium. It’s impressive enough on its own–reproducing it just felt a bit over the top.
Patiently waiting: For audience reaction during the final stages of the torch relay. I didn’t recognize any of the torchbearers, but I expected that the crowd would. Aside from shoe salesman Li Ning, who actually lit the cauldron, however, none of the runners got much applause from the audience.
Giggling: For me, the goofiest part of the evening was the sight of Li Ning flying into the air. Compared to the elegant air dancing in the first part of the show, he looked awkward and clumsy, like some of the poorer flying scenes from the old Superman movies. Except this was a slightly overweight middle-aged guy. The giggling turned into belly-laughing when he started his sideways, slow-motion run. It didn’t help when they had problems aligning his speed with that of a video scroll that was unrolling on the screen behind him. The whole thing caught me completely by surprise, in a bad way. I can’t think of another time when I’ve seen someone of his stature in China do much more than stand politely and perhaps wave to the crowd in a public event….For me, Muhammad Ali’s shaking arm in Atlanta and the flaming arrow in Barcelona were the two most memorable torch lightings.
Overall, there were very few ”gasp inducing scenes” (to borrow Pat Forde’s phrase) for me this year. It seemed that way as well among the crowd in attendance, at least from what I heard and saw on TV (though the NBC broadcast and several other reports I’ve read since indicate otherwise). It was telling that Kobe Bryant got one of the loudest cheers of the night when the camera switched to him for a fews during the walk-in.
What did the rest of you think?
UPDATE: Shanghaiist has a nice collection of reactions to the opening ceremonies from major media outlets and blogs, most of them far more positive than my comments….I wasn’t the only person surprised that NBC didn’t offer a live broadcast of the opening ceremonies….Chad Catacchio has set up a handy feed for the Beijing Olympics on Friendfeed….An American was killed right around the corner today.
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01.14.08
Posted in Sports, Wuhan at 21:59 by Mul
According to multiple reports (Shanghai Daily, Telegraph, SCMP – subscr.) horse racing and gambling will be legalized on a trial-basis in Wuhan beginning in late 2008 or early 2009. Apparently a Wuhan-based outfit auspiciously called The Orient Lucky Horse Group has received permission from authorities to begin legalized gambling on horses as early as September 2008. While some stories have pointed out that gambling has been banned in China since 1949, that is not technically accurate. Horse racing has existing continuously in Hong Kong and Macau (they’re part of China folks) for well over a hundred years. And, according to The Times of London, horse racing without legal gambling was brought back recently for short periods of time in both Guangzhou (’90s) and Beijing (’00s). Sure, that makes sense. Racing, but no gambling. In China.
The reports say there will be a horse racing “lottery” but it’s unclear what form the gambling will take. Anything other than the ability to choose specific horses to bet on will resemble the indecipherable China Sports Lottery.
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