How the Chinese see the sportsosphere

Slantedly?

As you may or may not know, I just got back from a three-week trip from China. One of the first things I noticed was how different their priorities in terms of sports are (as I assume most of the rest of the world's is) from ours. While I did get to watch simulcasts of every single Rockets game (which would have been out of my market in the States), I heard absolutely nothing about the Patriots remarkable run through the regular season? Unacceptable.

One fateful night, I decided to watch the Chinese equivalent of Sportscenter, an hour-long news broadcast highlighting the days headlines and it went something like this (Actually, exactly like this.)

Leading off, there was the championship game for the Chinese Volleyball Association, complete with video highlights from the match. I, for one, love volleyball and rejoice whenever a match, indoor or outdoor, is on TV, but since when is a volleyball game the top story of any night?

Next there was the obligatory "How are Chinese people doing in the NBA?" segment? [Channeling the anchor here] Yao Ming put up 30 points, 8 rebounds, and (get this) 6 assists in the night's win against the Knicks. Rookie Aaron Brooks lit it up for a career high 22 points in the game, drawing comparisons to Allen Iverson because of his small stature and explosive quickness (I really hate using the word "explosive"). Interviews with Rafer Alston, Luther Head, Aaron Brooks, and Yao Ming follow, all of whom say that it was a great win and they were happy with Brooks' performance but comparing him to Ivy is a bit premature (NBA Post-game shows don't even have that many interviews). Oh by the way, Yi Jianlian plays against the Bobcats, last time they played he had a career-high 29 points, but that's enough about that. I guess the Chinese media doesn't care as much about Yi's well-being as I do. I didn't see a single Bucks game broadcasted during my stay there (possibly because I often wasn't up early enough).

Stay tuned for our featured story about some riflewoman whose name I forget!

Manchester United wins 2-0 against Aston Villa. Wayne Rooney did not start this game, and it was tied 0-0 at the half, but once he came in for the last 20 minutes of the game, the tide turned as United scored twice in the final 10 minutes.

By the way, if you haven't heard, the Olympics are in Beijing this year! Don't miss them.

Now for our featured story, the one about the riflewoman. [This is where my Chinese failed me and I did not understand pretty much anything that was being said and decided to change the channel.]

So there you have it.