2010 Jan 05 Talking Balls: AWOL Aussies, Skipper Kidnaps and Giant Kids
Beijing Guoan are not even playing at the moment, but are still managing to be controversial. This time the controversy stretches all the way to Australia and guess who’s at the center of it? None other than Beijing’s former hardman/nutcase/sensation, Joel Griffiths. As mentioned in a previous Talking Balls it was understood that he was fated to return to the Newcastle Jets after Guoan refused to meet the Australian team’s valuation. But now Griffiths has gone AWOL from the A-League club. He skipped his first training session highlighting that he had an agreement that Beijing only had to offer AUD 350,000 to secure his services for next season. The Chinese champions did that on New Year’s Eve but the Jets said that deal was contingent on Griffiths finishing the A-League season and that deal ended on December 16. Read more here and here. If Griffiths is to play for Guoan in next season’s Asian Champions’ League then he needs to be registered before January 11. Wait and see.
Sina.com has it that Beijing Guoan are in the market for Valencia’s Portuguese international full-back Miguel. How true this remains to be seen as just this month in FourFourTwo magazine an interview with Arjen Robben highlighted Miguel as the toughest opponent he has come across. Will one of the best defenders in the world plying his trade in the CSL? Not if Bayern Munich or Chelsea get their way. Regardless, it is real as Miguel has said, “my agent did tell me that a Chinese club is interested, but I don’t know which one.”
It wouldn’t be football news without a mention of corruption so here’s this weeks. Li Chengpeng, one of China’s most revered football journalists, reported on his blog that a Team China captain was kidnapped in Hong Kong and held for three days for failing to carry out an agreement with a gambling gang. The alleged kidnap happened in 2004 which means that, were it to be true, the man in question would be either Li Weifeng or Zheng Zhi. Meanwhile, Zheng was an unused sub in Celtic’s weekend draw with rivals Rangers.
Finally, China’s most famous basketballer is said to be expecting a child. Yao Ming, all 7’6” of him, and his wife Ye Li, a mere 6’3”, are said to be in the family way according to Sina.com. There has been no speculation so far as to how tall this child may be.
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Talking Balls: Lucky Bhoys, Dodgy Buys and a Foul-mouthed Tirade
Good news for fans of “ZZ Watch” this week. After giving up all hope (us and not him that is) Zheng Zhi actually played. Better still he scored. Even better than that is that the goal was the winner over Hearts which secured Celtic Champions’ League football next season. Take a look at the goal by clicking here – it’s at 3:10 and it’s a belter. Whether or not this affects ZZ’s Celtic career remains to be seen but goals like that should mean he’ll not struggle for offers.
Talking Balls: Patriots, Stars and Subsitutes
Tickets are now on sale for the Sanyuan Foods China Open 2010. That’s snooker for the uninitiated. Tickets are priced at RMB 20-2,010 and available by clicking here. To have a look at the schedules and find out when you might see Ronnie O’Sullivan click here.
There’s been more fall-out from the Winter Olympics. Gold medal winner Zhou Yang has come under fire for thanking her parents when everyone knows that you should thank your country above all. To remind her of this was State Sports General Administration deputy director Yu Zaiqing who said “Thanking your parents is not a problem, but should thank the country first. Must put the country first, don’t just thank your parents and that’s it.”
Talking Balls: Blazing Trails in Portland, Costly Foreign Faces and Those Downtrodden Ducks
New Year’s resolution for sports have always been associated with winning another champion or breaking the world record, but for China’s sportswear tycoon Li Ning, his resolution is open his first US store in Portland on January 4.
Talking Balls: Meat Pie, Humble Pie and Pie in the Sky
Some sports are better than others. Snooker should be right up there at the top. The reason? You can win your own body weight in pies. Ding Junhui did just that a little over a week ago. Ding won a world-ranking event when he beat John Higgins 10-8 in an exciting climax to the Pukka Pies United Kingdom Championship at the Telford International Centre. Ding collected a first prize of GBP 100,000, the largest prize of his career, rose to sixth in the provisional world rankings and was presented with his own weight, 68kg, in Pukka Pies, a total of 276 pies. That’s champion.
Talking Balls: A Smoking Rocket, Marbury Mania & The Olympic Underground
The Olympics are around the corner, or should we say, further along the line. Transport London, which runs the capital's world-famous Tube, have decided to cash in on the Olympics. They've released a map with a twist: All of the stations are now named after famous Olympians. We admit that it's better than the 2012 mascots but as merchandise goes, it's still pretty bad. There are 13 Chinese Olympians on the map:
